Search results

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the pricing strategy and the impact of agents' risk preference in a dual-channel supply chain in which both agents are risk-averse.

The authors make use of the mean-variance (MV) method to measure the risk aversion of the agents and apply Stackelberg game to obtain the optimal strategies of the proposed models. Furthermore, the authors compare the optimal strategies with that in the benchmark model in which no agent is risk-averse.

The authors find that the pricing decisions can be divided into four categories according to the risk attitudes of the agents: the decisions that are independent of two agents' risk attitudes, the decisions that depend on only one agent’s risk attitude (i.e. depend on only manufacturer's risk attitude and depend on only retailer's risk attitude) and the decisions that depend on both agents' risk attitudes. In addition, the authors find that the retail price will be lower and the wholesale price in most cases will be lower than that in the benchmark when at least one agent's risk control is effective; the demand will be always increasing as long as one agent's risk control is effective. Furthermore, compared to the benchmark, a win-win strategy (i.e. Pareto improvement) for the supply chain members can be obtained in a certain range where the agents' risk controls are appropriate.

This research provides a theoretical reference for the managers to make the pricing decisions and the risk control in dual-channel supply chains with heterogeneous preference consumers.

Nature provides a wide range of structures with different functions, which can serve as a source of research concepts. Based on the bionics principle, a bionic structure was applied to drill pipe specimens to compare the bond strength of paint coatings with and without a bionic ring groove pattern machined on the substrate.

Using the Revetest Xpress Plus scratch tester, the bond strengths of the coatings on the drill pipe with and without the bionic structure were measured and the difference in bond strength was observed.

The critical scratch loads of the surface coatings were 12.77 and 5.4 N. Furthermore, the scratch curve from the plain sample had a larger fluctuation compared to the curve of the samples with bionic ring grooves.

This indicated that the application of a bionic pattern to the surface of the substrate could enhance the bond strength and the degree of mechanical adhesion between the coating and the surface of the drill pipe, which is beneficial for the anti-corrosion performance of the drill pipe.

The functionality and reliability of an overhauled aero-engine is determined by all configuration changes in the overhaul process. Identifying, recording, auditing, tracking and tracing of configuration modifications are significant and meaningful. Considering the barriers to these goals, this paper aims to put forward an approach to configuration management in the aero-engine overhaul process.

The overhaul configuration management model is proposed to describe an aero-engine’s configuration evolution trajectory in the overhaul process. The controlling and auditing procedures are put forward to control and audit parts’ return-to-zero statuses and overproof statuses. And some searching algorithms are also designed to enable tracking and tracing of the configuration status along the time coordinate, or get a snapshot of an aero-engine’s configuration at a certain time. The above model, procedures and algorithms have been implemented and adopted to fulfill the configuration management requirements in the aero-engine overhaul process.

The approach is effective in identifying, recording, controlling, auditing, tracking and tracing configuration changes in the overhaul process.

The approach’s implementation and adoption present a practical example for aero-engines’ configuration management issue in the overhaul process.

The work proposes an original aero-engine configuration management solution for the overhaul process and enables a reliable and accurate configuration management mode.

The purpose of this paper is to find a method for key assembly structure identification in complex mechanical assembly. Three-dimensional model reuse plays an increasingly important role in complex product design and innovative design. Assembly model has become important resource of models reuse in enterprises, which contains certain function assembly structures. These assembly structures implicating plenty of design intent and design experience knowledge can be used to support function-structure design, modular design reuse and semantics analysis for complex product.

A method for identifying key assembly structures in assembly model is presented from the viewpoint of assembly topology and multi-source attributes. First, assembly model is represented based on complex network. Then, a two-level evaluation model is put forward to evaluate importance of parts assembled, and the key function parts in assembly can be obtained. After that, on the basis of the function parts, a heuristic algorithm upon breadth first searching is given to identify key assembly structures.

The method could be used to evaluate key function parts and identify key assembly structures in complex mechanical assembly according to the specific circumstances.

The method can not only help designers find the key assembly structure in complex mechanical assembly model, facilitate the function-structure designing and semantics analyzing, and thereby improve the efficiency of product knowledge reuse, but also assist in analyzing influence scope of key function part changing and optimization of the assembly process for complex mechanical assembly.

The paper is the first to propose a method for key assembly structure identification in complex mechanical assembly, where the key function parts can be evaluated through a two-level evaluation model, and the key assembly structures are identified automatically based on complex network.

The purpose of this paper is to solve the asynchrony problem between the logistics stream and the information stream in the complex product assembly executive process.

States of assembly and logistics are described by transitions, and implemented via logistics agents and assembly agents. Events in the assembly executive process are described by places, and mapped to radio frequency identification (RFID) tags' states. An agent‐based complex product assembly framework is proposed. Mobile agents are used to encapsulate task and data, and RFID tags' states are able to trigger dispatching of assembly agents and executing of assembly tasks. Assisted by mobile agents' retraction mechanism, on‐site data are carried back when assembly tasks are finished.

An assembly executive process Petri net and a mobile agent‐based complex product assembly framework are proposed.

Dynamic matching mechanism between assembly tasks and materials is achieved, and controlling and monitoring methods of complex product assembly executive process are enhanced.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a hybrid driving system that couples a motor and flywheel energy storage (FES) for a megawatt-scale superconducting direct current (DC) induction heater. Previous studies have proven that a superconducting DC induction heater has great advantages in relation to its energy efficiency and heating quality. In this heater, a motor rotates an aluminium billet in a DC magnetic field and the induced eddy current causes it to be heated. When the aluminium billet begins to rotate, a high peak load torque appears at a low rotation speed. Therefore, driving the billet economically has been a great challenge when designing the driving system, which is the focus of this paper.

A hybrid driving system based on FES is designed to provide extra torque when the peak load torque occurs at a low rotation speed, which allows the successful start-up of the aluminium billet and the operation of the motor at its rated capacity. The mechanical structure of this hybrid driving system is introduced. A simulation model was constructed using Matlab/Simulink and the dynamic start-up process is analysed. The influence of the flywheel’s inertia and required minimum engagement speed are investigated.

The results of this paper show that the hybrid driving system that couples FES and a motor can successfully be used to start the aluminium billet rotating. The flywheel’s inertia and engagement speed are the most important parameters. The inertia of the flywheel decreases with an increase in its engagement speed.

The cost of the driving system is significantly reduced, which is very important in relation to the commercial potential of this apparatus.

A novel start-up strategy for driving the aluminium billet of a superconducting DC induction heater at low speed is proposed based on FES.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic plunged global tourism into a huge crisis in 2020. China was confronted with a wave of cancellations by tourism consumers due to COVID-19 and tourist complaints rose dramatically during this period. Although tourism enterprises have quickly introduced measures in response, the effectiveness of targeted policies is expected to be evaluated. Concerned about this phenomenon, this study aims to provide insights into the dim prospects of the tourism industry and to bridge the gap between tourists and enterprises.

The current study adopts a two-step method that combines automatic and manual content analysis to contrastively analyse 647 complaints from the Sina platform and the measures of five online travel agencies (OTAs) taken to deal with COVID-19.

The results reveal that the COVID-19-related information and policies issued by official departments had a promoting effect on tourist complaints. OTAs were the main target of complainers, and three themes of complaints were identified, namely, cancellation barriers, refund barriers and customer relationship management. Although tourism enterprises’ policies covered most dimensions of the three themes, more detailed and mutually beneficial policies need to be formulated in the face of a new round of cancellations.

This research attempts to investigate tourism customer complaint behaviours in the case of COVID-19 and to provide tourism enterprises receiving different complaints with practical insights into crisis management. It contributes to simultaneously minimizing business losses and maintaining customer relationships in the service industry, improving the industry’s performance under potential crises in the future.

危机信息、沟通策略和客户投诉行为:以COVID-19为例

2020年, 新冠肺炎大流行的爆发使全球旅游业陷入巨大危机。由于新冠肺炎疫情, 中国面临了旅游消费者的退订浪潮, 期间游客投诉大幅上升。虽然旅游企业迅速采取了应对措施, 但预期将评估有针对性的政策的有效性。考虑到这一现象, 本研究旨在为旅游业的暗淡前景提供见解, 并弥合游客和企业之间的差距。

本研究采用自动内容分析和人工手动编码相结合的两步方法, 对来自新浪平台的647起游客投诉和5家在线旅行社应对COVID-19的措施进行对比分析。

结果显示, 官方部门发布的新冠肺炎相关信息和政策对旅游投诉的数量起到了刺激作用。在线旅行社是投诉者的主要目标, 并确定了游客投诉的三个主题:取消障碍、退款障碍和客户关系管理。虽然旅游企业政策涵盖了这三个主题的大部分层面, 但面对新一轮的取消, 还需要制定更详细和互利的政策。

本研究试图调查COVID-19情况下的旅游客户投诉行为, 为收到不同投诉的旅游企业提供危机管理的实用见解。它有助于在服务行业同时减少业务损失和维护客户关系, 提高行业在未来潜在危机下的绩效。

Información de crisis, estrategias de comunicación y medidas adoptadas ante las reclamaciones de los clientes: el caso de COVID-19

El presente estudio adopta un método en dos fases que combina el análisis de contenido automático y manual para analizar de forma contrastiva 647 reclamaciones de la plataforma Sina y las medidas de cinco agencias de viajes online (OTA) adoptadas para hacer frente a la COVID-19.

El estallido de la pandemia COVID-19 sumió al turismo mundial en una enorme crisis en 2020. China tuvo que hacer frente a una oleada de cancelaciones por parte de los consumidores turísticos debido a la COVID-19, y las quejas de los turistas aumentaron drásticamente durante este periodo. Aunque las empresas turísticas introdujeron rápidamente medidas de respuesta, se espera que se evalúe la eficacia de dichas políticas. Preocupado por este fenómeno, el presente estudio pretende aportar información sobre las sombrías perspectivas de la industria turística y tender un puente entre los turistas y las empresas.

Los resultados revelan que la información y las políticas relacionadas con el COVID-19 emitidas por los departamentos oficiales tuvieron un efecto promotor de las quejas de los turistas. Las OTAs fueron el principal objetivo de los reclamantes, y se identificaron tres temas de reclamaciones: barreras de cancelación, barreras de reembolso y gestión de la relación con el cliente. Aunque las políticas de las empresas turísticas cubrían la mayoría de las dimensiones de los tres temas, es necesario formular políticas más detalladas y mutuamente beneficiosas ante una nueva oleada de cancelaciones.

Esta investigación trata de investigar el comportamiento de las reclamaciones de los clientes turísticos en el caso de COVID-19 y de proporcionar a las empresas turísticas que reciben diferentes reclamaciones una visión práctica de la gestión de crisis. Contribuye a minimizar simultáneamente las pérdidas comerciales y a mantener las relaciones con los clientes en el sector de los servicios, mejorando el rendimiento de la industria ante posibles crisis en el futuro.

The goal of this paper is twofold: (1) to investigate how relatedness-supportive corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives influence brand happiness among retail bank customers through a mediating mechanism of customer participation in brand CSR movements; and (2) to analyze how relatedness-supportive CSR initiatives’ effect may be moderated by cause choice and customer-brand goal congruence.

Data were collected from 379 retail bank customers via a paper-and-pencil survey. The hypothesized moderated-mediation effects were tested using Hayes’ (2013) PROCESS (Model 3, Model 4 and Model 7).

Results show that relatedness-supportive CSR initiatives increase brand happiness among retail bank customers through increasing their participation in brand CSR movements. Furthermore, the use of customer determination in the choice of cause enhances the positive effect of relatedness-supportive CSR initiatives on customer participation in brand CSR movements. Similarly, when customers choose the cause and the customer-brand goal is congruent, the effect of relatedness-supportive CSR initiatives on brand happiness is stronger than when the customer-brand goal is incongruent and cause choice is not aligned.

This research is grounded on the relationship motivation theory (RMT), basic psychological needs theory and self-congruity theory to unpack the relationship between relatedness-supportive CSR programs on brand happiness. Integrating three research streams (i.e. CSR, brand management and retail banking), this study proposes customer participation in brand CSR movements as a novel mechanism and sheds light on how relatedness-supportive CSR interplays with cause choice/customer-brand goal congruence to affect brand happiness among retail bank customers in emerging markets.

This study examines the relative effects of human capital (HC), social capital (SC) and psychological capital (PC) on hotel employees’ job performance.

A sample of 417 employees from seven five-star hotels in China was recruited for the study. Both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to confirm the quality of measurement structures. Stepwise regression was used to examine the relative effects of the three capitals on hotel employees’ job performance.

PC was found to be the strongest predictor of self-reported job performance (SJP) among the three capitals under investigation. Education and work experience in the HC domain affected SJP, whereas SC dimensions did not. However, only education and work experience in the HC domain were found to affect supervisor-rated job performance (RJP).

Given the impact of PC on hotel employee’s SJP, human resource managers should attend to this capital in staff recruitment, retention and training and development.

This study provides a holistic comparative lens to examine the relative contribution of the three capitals on hotel employees’ job performance. This will help to further clarify the roles played by each of the capitals in hotel service work, thus advancing the development of the theories underlying each of the three capitals.

To better understand what inhibits people from participating in collaborative consumption, this paper aims to develop research models of users and non-users to examine the relationship between perceived risks and intentions to use peer-to-peer (P2P) accommodation. Moreover, differences of risk perceptions and behavioral intentions between P2P accommodation users and non-users were identified.

The method of convenience sampling was used to collect data. Excluding the invalid questionnaires, 520 were kept for further analysis. In this paper, SPSS and partial least squares (PLS) were used to analyze the data.

The findings highlighted the important role of perceived risks in determining tourists’ intentions to use P2P accommodation. The results showed that non-users have higher perceived risks in regards to all four risk dimensions (psychological risk, physical risk, performance risk and social risk), and they also have significantly lower behavioral intentions to use P2P accommodation than the users. For users, only the psychological risk has significant negative effects on behavioral intentions, while for non-users, both psychological and physical risks are important inhibitors.

This paper contributes to a better understanding of the antecedents that influence consumers’ participation in collaborative consumption in the P2P accommodation domain. Second, it extends the literature on perceived risk by discussing users and non-users in this market. Finally, this research provides insights into the P2P accommodation market in China, which enables online travel platforms to develop targeted marketing strategies.

为更好了解协同消费的顾客参与，本论文构建了使用者和非使用者模型来检验其感知风险和使用P2P住宿行为意向的关系。此外，本论文也试图探讨使用者和非使用者在感知风险和行为意向方面的差异。

研究样本采取方便抽样方式，共回收520份有效问卷。本论文采用SPSS和偏最小二乘法（PLS）分析数据。

研究结果凸显了感知风险对影响游客使用P2P住宿的重要作用。P2P 住宿非使用者不仅有更高的感知风险（表现在四个风险维度上：心理风险，身体风险，性能风险和社会风险），而且比使用者有更低的使用意向。对于使用者来说，只有心理风险对行为意向有显著地影响作用；对于非使用者，心理风险和身体风险都是影响行为意向的因素。

本论文对于阻碍P2P住宿的参与因素进行了深入探讨。其次，本论文通过讨论使用者和非使用者的差异拓展了感知风险相关研究。最后，本论文研究了P2P住宿业在中国的市场情况，为在线旅行平台开发目标市场策略提供了启示。

P2P 住宿，Airbnb, 感知风险，使用者和非使用者，行为意向