Customer Priorities Research Articles

TRENDS IN THE DYNAMICS OF THE MILITARY-TECHNOLOGICAL COMPLEX INDUSTRY IN THE GLOBAL MARKET

The article examines current trends in the development of the global market of military-technical products. The author draws attention to the steady growth dynamics of purchases of military-industrial products in the world. The article describes key global trends in the development of promising innovative developments of dual-use goods. Since the end of the Cold War, global military research and development (R & D) has found itself in a situation of declining demand for its products. During this period, there was a reduction in military spending in the former Soviet Union and in many other countries. The United States of America has become the undisputed leader in the global market of the military-industrial complex (MIC). The author analyzed the dynamics of us spending in the late 1990s and early 2000s and showed in tables the increase in the gap in spending on the US military-industrial complex and the rest of the world. The article says that some of the civilian R & D is funded from private sources, because large companies have sufficient budgets to finance R & D. In general, the differences between civilian and military production lines have decreased – there is a trend of dual use of products. The author emphasizes that due to the increase in the share of civilian R & D, military R & D has undergone major structural changes in most countries. The study tracks changes in customer priorities in the military-industrial sector, the emergence of new, relevant products and services. The article examines the current trend of involving civilian producers in the development of Defense and security policies, cooperation with defense institutions and non-governmental organizations. The dynamism of scientific and technological progress requires monitoring the competitive positions of national producers in the military-industrial complex sector. The article also analyzes promising areas and key future trends in the development of the global military-industrial complex market.

DETERMINING PRIORITY NEEDS OF CULINARY MICRO-ENTERPRISE CUSTOMERS IN INDONESIA THROUGH A QUALITY PERSPECTIVE

Determining the priority of customer needs is one of the right steps for business people to take to determine the direction of allocating their resources. In this study, affinity diagrams and tree charts are used to classify and translate the opinions of loyal customers about customer needs. The customer opinion (voice of the customer) obtained through semistructured interviews is then translated into a technical language (voice of quality) that has a relationship and correlation to existing theories. Data in the form of items of customer need, which are the result of affinity diagram analysis and tree diagrams, are then presented using a matrix that takes the left and right chamber of the House of Quality (HOQ) matrix from the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) method. Matrix that adopts the left and right chamber of HOQ matrix will display the items of customer needs and their priority level. The purpose of this study is to identify the item of customer needs and determine the priority level of customer needs for micro culinary fried rice enterprise in Indonesia. The variable Service Quality in the dimension of Responsiveness with the indicator item Fast Service ranks third. Variable Perceived Benefit in the dimension A Statement of Value with items including Low Prices and Discount occupy the second position. The variable of product quality in the Performance dimension with items including Delicacy, High Quality Ingredients, Varied Menu and Large Portion is the variable of customer needs with the highest priority.

ЯКІСТЬ БАНКІВСЬКИХ ПРОДУКТІВ: ЧИННИКИ ВПЛИВУ

The article presents the impact on the quality of banking products of internal and external factors in terms of the need to strengthen the customer orientation of banking activities based on innovative technological decisions. The state of the banking system of Ukraine in a pandemic is analysed and the necessity of banks to find new opportunities to ensure a high level of quality of their products, both traditional and innovative, taking into account the peculiarities of modern world trends. The essence of the concepts "banking product" and "quality of a banking product" is studied. The expediency of considering the complex of concepts - a banking product, a banking service and a banking operation - as a set of interrelated elements that constitute a certain holistic hierarchical system was determined. The article substantiates the necessity of understanding the quality of a banking product as the degree of satisfaction of clients' needs taking into account a number of criteria that form a state of loyalty to the banking institution, ensuring its sustainable operation in the short and long term. The basic principles to which the portfolio of banking products should correspond are highlighted. External and internal factors influencing the quality of the banking products portfolio are analysed. The role of organizational culture of the bank as the basis for strengthening client-oriented activity has been defined. The factors which influence the level of loyalty of the banking institution's clients have been studied. The main differences between the priorities of customers and banks are considered. The focus is placed on the need for hyper-personalization when interacting with customers, which will allow them to best meet their needs by providing relevant services. The prospects of cooperation between banks and Fintech companies as a condition for creating modern innovative products on the basis of providing the appearance of a synergistic effect of a new quality level were analysed. This cooperation will open the possibility of access to a solid bank customer audience for Fintech companies, and for others it is a condition for mastering of modern digital innovations. The factors influencing the level of development of the Fintech industry are considered, and the dominant trends in the field of digitalization of the leading countries of the world are given. The role of neobanks in creating conditions for a high quality of interaction with consumers as compared with classic banks was investigated. The features in the activities of the leading non-banks of the world are set out. The reality of the threat to banking systems from technological giants BigTech was analysed. Identified changes in the needs of customers to obtain a set of financial and non-financial products. Considered the possibility of meeting customer needs by forming a banking ecosystem with access to other, non-traditional banking segments.

Applying quality function deployment for designing a cryogenic piping system

Cryogenic piping system is a delicate product. If it is not designed properly, i.e., without considering region specific weather condition, vapourisation will occur at undesirable rate while cryogenic fluid flows through the pipeline. In this work, optimum design for a cryogenic piping system has been explored. To identify existing design limitations as well as customer priorities, quality function deployment has been employed. Data have been collected from local customers and experts through questionnaire-based survey. Double-concentric-pipes type construction with inner pipe diameter of 21.34-33.40 mm and outer pipe diameter of 88.90-193.68 mm has been considered. Four potential insulating mediums; multilayer insulation, vacuum, polyethylene foam, and perlite have been investigated. Multilayer insulation thickness and vacuum pressure have been varied from 6-30 mm and 10−5−5 mbar respectively. Results reveal that use of multilayer insulation accompanied by vacuum pressure of 10−4 mbar ensures optimum performance with optimum insulation thickness of 20 mm.

Applying quality function deployment for designing a cryogenic piping system

Cryogenic piping system is a delicate product. If it is not designed properly, i.e., without considering region specific weather condition, vapourisation will occur at undesirable rate while cryogenic fluid flows through the pipeline. In this work, optimum design for a cryogenic piping system has been explored. To identify existing design limitations as well as customer priorities, quality function deployment has been employed. Data have been collected from local customers and experts through questionnaire-based survey. Double-concentric-pipes type construction with inner pipe diameter of 21.34-33.40 mm and outer pipe diameter of 88.90-193.68 mm has been considered. Four potential insulating mediums; multilayer insulation, vacuum, polyethylene foam, and perlite have been investigated. Multilayer insulation thickness and vacuum pressure have been varied from 6-30 mm and 10−5−5 mbar respectively. Results reveal that use of multilayer insulation accompanied by vacuum pressure of 10−4 mbar ensures optimum performance with optimum insulation thickness of 20 mm.

Using the analytic hierarchy process to design supply chains based on demand uncertainty and implied resource requirements

In today's volatile business environment, a single supply chain (SC) for a firm can be quite risky. The loss resulting from any disruptive operations, in a case with a single SC, can be much higher than costs of having a few resilient supply chains. For a firm to provide its customers with the desired responsiveness, a few supply chains should be developed. However, due to scarcity of resources, it would be impossible to indiscriminately provide top quality service to all customers. This study uses the Delphi method and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to rank a firm's customers and to determine the implied resource requirements to fulfil customer orders. Using this information, a customer priority index (CPI) matrix is constructed. The CPI matrix is subsequently divided into four quadrants and for each quadrant, a unique SC strategy is formulated, considering the customer's importance and degree of scarcity of resources.

Studying the conformity level of customer needs and organisation perception using a customer satisfaction index

The aim of this study is to identify the conformity level of decision makers' perception of customer needs and indicators of satisfying customers. For this purpose, the marketing and sales department of Esfahan Steel Company (ESCO) was selected for case study. The statistical population included clients and decision makers of the company. Technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) was used for data analysis. Main findings revealed that decision makers do not properly understand clients' demands and expectations; and the actions have been taken based on imaginations rather than realities arising from customers' expectations. Furthermore, there is no suitable process through which the customer priorities influence organisation's strategies. Customers' expectations were ranked and the results were taken for proposing priorities in developing suitable strategies and plans for continuous improvement.

IS ORGANIC FOOD A SUSTAINABLE CHOICE? EVALUATING ORGANIC FOOD PRODUCTION IN THE FRAMEWORK OF ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

Excessive consumption, deterioration of nature, and misusing the resources are problems of current humanity and future generations. Sustainability has started to become a priority for both practitioners and customers. In this respect, sustainable consumption and production practices stand out in almost all areas. Environmental sustainability concerns also affect food consumption habits. Sustainable agriculture and organic movement accelerated in recent times. In this context, the purpose of this study is to evaluate organic food in the framework of environmental sustainability by investigating literature and consumers' opinions. It is aimed to investigate organic food in terms of environmental sustainability with consumer perspective in this study. This study collected data through In-Depth interview method in line with this purpose. The results of the study signify that sustainable consumption and organic food purchase intention are interrelated. It's proposed that environmental sensitivity and environmental knowledge have positive roles, whereas scepticism has a negative role in organic food purchase intention.

Accommodation decision-making during the COVID-19 pandemic: Complexity insights from Greece.

With the remaining ambiguity around COVID-19 effective treatment, the decision-making process for 2020 tourists remains fraught with complexity. Drawing from a sample of 385 permanent Athenian residents, the study explores the decision-making attributes driving their accommodation purchasing preferences in times of increased uncertainty. The complex dynamics are investigated using fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis. A complementary analysis evaluates the size effect of the examined conditions using Necessary Condition Analysis. In total, four solutions are generated concerning: (i) health and safety; (ii) the price-quality nexus; (iii) risk aspects; and (iv) quality related health and safety. The study contributes towards the initiation of the theoretical discourse on the foundations of the exploration of tourists' accommodation choice triggers and dilemmas in times of pandemics. The results inform market intelligence with regard to accommodation-related customer priorities, perceptions and intentions during the pandemic which lay several important managerial implications for the accommodation industry.

Migration cost optimization for service provider legacy network migration to software‐defined IPv6 network

SummaryThis paper studies a problem for seamless migration of legacy networks of Internet service providers to a software‐defined networking (SDN)‐based architecture along with the transition to the full adoption of the Internet protocol version 6 (IPv6) connectivity. Migration of currently running legacy IPv4 networks into such new approaches requires either upgrades or replacement of existing networking devices and technologies that are actively operating. The joint migration to SDN and IPv6 network is considered to be vital in terms of migration cost optimization, skilled human resource management, and other critical factors. In this work, we first present the approaches of SDN and IPv6 migration in service providers' networks. Then, we present the common concerns of IPv6 and SDN migration with joint transition strategies so that the cost associated with joint migration is minimized to lower than that of the individual migration. For the incremental adoption of software‐defined IPv6 (SoDIP6) network with optimum migration cost, a greedy algorithm is proposed based on optimal path and the customer priority. Simulation and empirical analysis show that a unified transition planning to SoDIP6 network results in lower migration cost.

THEORETICAL STUDY OF THE COST OF POOR RISK MANAGEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

This study examines previous literature on construction risk management with the specific aim of identifying the cost incurred for poor risk management implementation in construction projects. One of the salient ways risk can be curbed is at the cost level, and standardized bodies such as corporate or government has tried to formulate remedies for high project cost of risk management. Primary findings emanating from this work reveals that past and other underground empirical studies have identified a number of important causes for poor risk management. These include the costs of procurement of equipment; technologies and safety; storage of data; quality and training of labor; equipment replacements and staff re-buildings; and failure in administration amongst others. The method adopted in this study is based on the cross analysis of inferences from structured interviews with reference to existing theoretical literature, published research, and unpublished research. This work contributed to the identification and comparison of important cost factors which contribute to poor risk management, assessed the cost risks which militate against the successful completion of construction projects, and suggested various consolidated way outs like the maximizing of the employee’s skills, avoidance of over-insurance, customer priority and application of value-chain in decision support. This theoretical research will further help the stakeholders and contractors to fix time-based cost of management processes to the barest minimum.

IPLEMENTASI MANAJEMEN PENJADWALAN PRODUKSI PADA MESIN SECARA PARALEL DENGAN METODE EARLIEST DUE DATE

The management of production and operations in factory machinery is an optimal management effort in the use of resources consisting of labor, machinery, equipment and raw materials. The production and operations manager directs various inputs in order to produce various outputs or results in units of quantity, quality, price, specific time and location according to consumer demand. Efficiency and effectiveness of the production process to be achieved requires proper scheduling management so that the production output produced can be completed according to target. Management of production and customer orders is still simple, besides that the status of raw material inventories that cannot be directly known can often result in delays in the production process and even production cannot be done as soon as possible. Scheduling orders that enter using the system first in first out where the first order that comes is done, but has not considered the number of orders, priority of customers, maturity of workmanship and engine capacity so that the estimated completion of the order can not be known. To make it more efficient and directed, the Earliest Due Date method is used by sorting the production work based on the closest due date. This method can be used for scheduling on one machine or for scheduling on several machines (parallel machine) so that the scheduling management information system can manage effective production scheduling and produce production reports automatically as needed.

Customer priorities for water and wastewater services: a comparative evaluation of three elicitation methods

AbstractWater service providers are being urged to incorporate customer preferences into their investment plans with the relative merits of different elicitation techniques being exposed to greater scrutiny. Though elicitation can be undertaken with a range of methods, there is little understanding of their comparative performance in terms of being able to generate consistent or commensurable outcomes. This study reports an evaluation of both intra and inter method consistency for three preference elicitation methods. Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient is used to measure consistency within and between elicitation methods and session transcripts provide additional evidence to support interpretation of the ranking process. Findings exposed low intramethod variation but significant variation in some intermethod comparisons. Discussion focuses on the internal dynamics of each method with conclusions calling for a wider range of methods to be studied so as to improve practitioner confidence in the use of these tools.

ANALISIS PROSES BISNIS PADA SEKOLAH MUSIK MENGGUNAKAN ZACHMAN FRAMEWORK

Semakin banyaknya lembaga sekolah atau institusi musik yang muncul diberbagai tempat, berbagai banyak juga tawaran-tawaran yang muncul berdasarkan keunggulan dan keunikan dari masing-masing institusi musik yang ada. Banyak sekolah musik proses bisnis utamanya adalah mencari murid sebanyaknya yang minat di bidang musik, ada juga sekolah musik yang bisnis utamanya mengajarkan teknik dan cara bermain alat musik menggabungkan antara teori dalam bermusik. Pemasaran yang baik yang didukung dengan metode pengajaran yang cocok bagi anak zaman sekarang, dan kelebihan dari sekolah musik yang lainnya akan menjadi bahan prioritas customer dan akan mendaftarkan dirinya sebagai siswa jikalau apa yang ditawarkan oleh lembaga kursus musik tersebut sesuai dengan tingkat kepentingan customer. Management dari sekolah musik yang rapih dan terorganisir, banyak prestasi, banyak murid, cabang dan mitra membuat suatu Lembaga Sekolah Musik menjadi daya bagi calon customer. Penerapan SI/IT sangat dibutuhkan pada setiap bidang perusahaan termasuk sekolah musik. Oleh karena itu, penelitian ini diharapkan dapat memberikan masukkan kepada perusahaan untuk menerapkan SI/TI yang sesuai dengan proses bisnis. Hasil dari penelitian ini berupa usulan pembentukan aplikasi-aplikasi yang nantinya akan diterapkan dalam proses bisnis perusahaan, baik aktivitas utama maupun aktivitas pendukungnya.

Customer segmentation for churn management by using ant colony algorithm

It is extremely important for companies to set customer priorities and act in line with these priorities. The ant colony algorithm is used to perform customer segmentation. To do this, the shortest path approach was chosen. Besides, clustering is done by the Euclidean distance formula in the ant colony algorithm. The customer segmentation attributes are mostly related to the satisfaction factors, but some of them were eliminated by using ranker. These results are mostly related to the customer’s income, tenure, equip call card and reside. These attributes are the most important satisfaction factors not to lose customers as expected. There are many reasons in changing GSM operator for subscribers, and it is very important for companies to predict if subscriber will change GSM operator or not. For this reason, companies that give GSM services have to monitor subscribers’ behaviour and predict one step forward. In this study, changing subscribers’ GSM operator will be predicted by using data mining techniques.
 Keywords: Ant colony, churn management, customer segmentation, data mining.
 Categories: I.2.1, I.2

Genetic algorithm for obstacle location-allocation problems with customer priorities

In this paper we propose a metaheuristic approach to solve a customer priority based location-allocation problem in presence of obstacles and location-dependent supplier capacities. In many network optimization problems presence of obstacles prohibits feasibility of a regular network design. This includes a wide range of applications including disaster relief and pandemic disease containment problems in healthcare management. We focus on this application since fast and efficient allocation of suppliers to demand nodes is a critical process that impacts the results of the containment strategy. In this study, we propose an integrated mixed-integer program with location-based capacity decisions that considers customer priorities in the network design. We propose an efficient multi-stage genetic algorithm that solves the problem in continuous space. The computational findings show the best allocation strategies derived from proposed algorithms.

Multi Criteria Decision Making for the Multi-Satellite Image Acquisition Scheduling Problem.

The multi-satellite image acquisition scheduling problem is traditionally seen as a complex optimization problem containing a generic objective function that represents the priority structure of the satellite operator. However, the majority of literature neglect the collective and contemporary effect of factors associated with the operational goal in the objective function, i.e., uncertainty in cloud cover, customer priority, image quality criteria, etc. Consequently, the focus of the article is to integrate a real-time scoring approach of imaging attempts that considers these aspects. This is accomplished in a multi-satellite planning environment, through the utilization of the multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) models, Elimination and Choice Expressing Reality (ELECTRE-III) and the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS), and the formulation of a binary linear programming model. The two scoring approaches belong to different model classes of MCDM, respectively an outranking approach and a distance to ideal point approach, and they are compared with a naive approach. Numerical experiments are conducted to validate the models and illustrate the importance of criteria neglected in previous studies. The results demonstrate the customized behaviour allowed by MCDM methods, especially the ELECTRE-III approach.

Use of modern information technologies for training philologists

The article analyzes the situation of the modern translation services market in Ukraine and identifies its main trends. In accordance with the conditions of the development of the translation services market defined in the article, an important vector of professional development of the future translation specialist is highlighted, which is necessarily connected with the use of modern information technologies for training philologists, namely machine translation and automated translation systems. The article clearly differentiates the concept of machine translation and translation based on the CAT-programs, which are radically different from each other and require different involvement of the human translator in the translation process. In the case of machine translation, the translator performs the function of post-editor at different levels (from full to light), while with automated translation systems, the translator is an active subject of the translation process, where the CAT systems only assist, assist in the translation and significantly save time. The article focuses on the translation with the help of CAT-programs, because such translation is currently a priority for customers in the translation services market. On this basis, the student must possess the necessary theoretical knowledge and be able to use such technologies to be competitive in today’s labor market. The CAT program operates on the basis of translation memory, which is formed from whole sentences and their translation as a pair of segments, according to which the translation unit consists of the original and the sentence in the language of translation. Among the many modern automated translation systems, Trados is the market leader, whose components have been analyzed in this article from the standpoint of a positive influence on the translation process, in particular translation memory, termbase, and the autosuggest dictionary. The article also analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of using modern information technologies, namely automated translation systems in translation practice.

Assessing the Implementation of Business Process Management on Selected Small and Medium Enterprises in Ghana

A business' choice for using an innovation depends on looking into the variables affecting this use and its favorable circumstances. Innovation deployment significantly influences the way business is led, the optimality of asset usage and increase in the organizations competitive advantage. This research is to identify the role Business Processing Management (BPM) play in selected SMEs in Ghana. The method utilized for this investigation was the descriptive research design. This research is exclusively embraced by the utilization of secondary data. The technique for data analysis will be by the utilization of content analysis. The study revealed that the main principles of BPM implementation in the selected SMEs are commitment from management, customer priority, teamwork, and continuous improvement. The study also showed that BPM has a direct relationship with the productivity of SMEs. The main challenges of BPM on the selected SMEs are the lack of resources, lack of experience in quality management, lack of objectives and strategies, Short term objectives concerns, lack of information technology (IT) experts. Since BPM is a broad and an intense concept that needs to be taken seriously when it comes to SMEs ensuring that the firm produces a high-quality goods and services, it was recommended that SMEs needs to have IT experts who can assist in the integration of BPM in all aspect of the business activities.

An Optimization Approach for a Complex Real-Life Container Loading Problem

We consider a real-world packing problem faced by a multinational logistics company that loads and ships hundreds of trucks every day. For each shipment, the company needs to select the cargo to transport from a set of heterogeneous boxes available at the warehouse, and load it into the truck. This leads to a container loading problem (CLP) where the goal is to maximize the value of the cargo while satisfying a number of practical constraints to ensure safety and facilitate cargo handling, including customer priorities, load balancing, cargo stability, positioning constraints, and limiting the number of unnecessary unloading operations during multi-shipment deliveries. Although some of these constraints have been considered in the literature, our CLP is particularly challenging because: (i) reducing unnecessary unloading operations while maximizing value are conflicting objectives, and (ii) the unloading constraints are new and hard to handle, especially when combined with the other constraints we account for. We tackle this problem by proposing a randomized constructive heuristic that iteratively sorts the items based on multiple criteria, then perturbs the sorting by using randomization, and finally constructs the packing while complying with all the constraints. We also propose dual bounds based on CLP relaxations. On large-scale industry instances, our algorithm runs in a few seconds and outperforms the company's own solutions (constructed manually by the warehouse personnel) and those provided by commercial software, in terms of both cargo value and constraints handling.