Future Market Prospects Research Articles

Identifying most important skills for PhD students in Food Science and Technology: a comparison between industry and academic stakeholders

Nowadays, there is an increasing need of new skills for PhD students to face the future labour market prospects. PhD graduates must have qualities attractive not only in academia but also outside, in both manufacture and service-oriented enterprises, in small innovative companies, and in the civil services and public administration, among others. To know what the needs of these future employees are, is of great importance to be able to improve their personal and academic formation. The aim of this work was, in the framework of the EC-funded ISEKI_Food 4 network, to evaluate the most desirable specific and soft skills that PhD students should acquire by the end of their doctoral studies. To this aim, several surveys were conducted and sent to the different stakeholders (academia and food industry partners) in order to collect the information needed. Results showed that competences related to research skills and techniques, research management, personal effectiveness and communication skills were considered to be the most valuable skills to be acquired by our PhD students to meet the future needs of the labour market. The importance of these skills was appreciated differently, depending on the stakeholder. To sum up, some recommendations to integrate such valuable skills into the curricula of the PhD student are given.

Identifying most important skills for PhD students in Food Science and Technology: a comparison between industry and academic stakeholders

Nowadays, there is an increasing need of new skills for PhD students to face the future labour market prospects. PhD graduates must have qualities attractive not only in academia but also outside, in both manufacture and service-oriented enterprises, in small innovative companies, and in the civil services and public administration, among others. To know what the needs of these future employees are, is of great importance to be able to improve their personal and academic formation. The aim of this work was, in the framework of the EC-funded ISEKI_Food 4 network, to evaluate the most desirable specific and soft skills that PhD students should acquire by the end of their doctoral studies. To this aim, several surveys were conducted and sent to the different stakeholders (academia and food industry partners) in order to collect the information needed. Results showed that competences related to research skills and techniques, research management, personal effectiveness and communication skills were considered to be the most valuable skills to be acquired by our PhD students to meet the future needs of the labour market. The importance of these skills was appreciated differently, depending on the stakeholder. To sum up, some recommendations to integrate such valuable skills into the curricula of the PhD student are given.

The future of electric vehicles: prospects and impediments

In recent years, about a century after reaching their first prime in the early 1900s, electric vehicles (EVs) have received growing attention again. Politicians in various countries have recognized EVs as a promising technological alternative to fossil fuel driven cars in combating global warming. However, for a broader market penetration considerable barriers have to be removed. The most important are high investment costs and low driving ranges, both caused by the major weakness of EVs—their battery. The core objective of this article is to investigate the future market prospects of various types of EVs, with the economics of EVs in comparison to conventional cars playing a key role. Only if the final driving costs can be considerably reduced will EVs gain significant market shares. In addition to this also the environmental aspects are very important because they are a major motivation in supporting and promotion of EVs. However, the policies and measures implemented vary between countries, meaning there is huge potential for an exchange of lessons learned. The major conclusion of this article is that future prospects of EVs are only bright if the costs of batteries can be brought down through technological learning and if improved storage can lead to higher driving ranges. However, to harvest the full environmental benefits of EVs the electricity for EVs must be generated from renewable energy sources. WIREs Energy Environ 2015, 4:521–536. doi: 10.1002/wene.160This article is categorized under: Energy Systems Economics > Economics and Policy Energy and Development > Economics and Policy

Forecasting the Future of Alternative Energy Technologies Using Economic Payback Curves

Calculating a payback period for new or improved energy technologies is a simple economic function. However, the very nature of its simplicity tends to mask underlying dynamic characteristics that provide valuable insight into the interpretation of its results. Use of graphics to illustrate the payback function provides an expanded perspective on payback and its sensitivity to energy rates, product cost/pricing and efficiency/technology improvements. This article describes the use of payback curves and provides examples of how these curves can be utilized to gain an understanding of the natural evolution of both high-efficiency products and renewable energy products; provide an indication on the sensitivity of product economics to energy prices, product cost, and efficiency improvements; and ultimately forecasts the future market prospects for new or improved technologies and products based on economic merit.

World War II, Missing Men and Out of Wedlock Childbearing

Based on county-level census data for the German state of Bavaria in 1939 and 1946, we use World War II as a natural experiment to study the effects of sex ratio changes on out-of-wedlock fertility. Our findings show that war-induced shortfalls of men to women significantly increased the nonmarital fertility ratio at mid century, a result that proves robust to the use of alternative sex ratio definitions, post-war measures of fertility, and estimation samples. The magnitude of this increase furthermore appears to depend on the future marriage market prospects that women at the time could expect to face in the not-too-distant future. We find the positive effect on the nonmarital fertility ratio of a decline in the sex ratio to be strongly attenuated by the magnitude of county- level shares of prisoners of war. Unlike military casualties and soldiers missing in action, prisoners of war had a sizeable positive probability of returning home from the war. Both current marriage market conditions, therefore, and foreseeable improvements in the future marriage market prospects of women appear to have influenced fertility behavior in the immediate aftermath of World War II.

What Criteria Should Policy-makers Use for Assisting Households with Educational Expenditure?

Low household expenditure on education compromises the learning and future labour market prospects of children. This study provides an empirical framework for determining the criteria that South Asian policy-makers can use for assisting households with educational expenditure. A case study of urban Bangladesh using tobit and hurdle regression models indicate that households in the bottom two per capita quartiles should receive priority as recipients of policy assistance. Other criteria include households with parents who have not completed primary schooling and households with boys, older children and multiple children of school-going age.

Electric vehicles – A model based assessment of future market prospects and environmental impacts

Assessing future market prospects and environmental impacts of electric vehicles requires taking into account the competitive situation with regard to established conventional vehicle propulsion technologies. The Modelica library AlternativeVehicles is used to analyse energy consumption of battery (BEV), extended range electric (EREV) as well as fuel cell hybrid electric vehicles (FCHEV). Costs of technical measures for enhancing conventional vehicles, as well as cost curves for batteries and fuel cells are assessed. Using a newly developed model, VECTOR21, customer purchase decision is modeled to derive future market shares of propulsion technologies and fuels, taking into account energy consumption, energy prices and taxation as relevant influencing factors. Two different scenarios demonstrate the dependency of future market prospects on a set of general conditions. With electricity and hydrogen being produced from renewable energy sources, as well as implementation of strict regulations regarding CO2, BEV and FCHEV could achieve a market share of up to approx. 65 % on the German new passenger car market by 2030. CO2 emissions of the vehicle stock could be reduced by approx. 65 % in this scenario. In a less ambitious scenario a market share of approx. 20 % is seen for BEV, with no application of FCHEV in the long run. CO2 emissions of the vehicle stock could be reduced by approx. 40 % in this scenario.

Improving company performance through customer‐satisfaction measurement and management

AbstractMarket penetration, sales performance, customer retention, and future market prospects are linked to four fundamental issues: Who are your customers and what do they really need and want? Which product/service attributes are expected and which are perceived as value‐added? In comparison with the competition, bow well is your organization catering to customer requirements? And where should you focus your improvement efforts? Speculation abounds, but reliable answers can be derived from customer‐satisfaction research, which quantifies the tangible and intangible factors that influence a purchasing decision. Using the hotel and other industries as a practical frame of reference, this article examines the mechanics of customer‐satisfaction measurement and management within the broader context of quality improvement.

Demonstrations: the missing link in government-sponsored energy technology deployment

When effectively conducted, demonstrations constitute a powerful and often essential marketing step for new technologies. Seven case studies illustrate the value of demonstrations to the deployment of new energy technologies — particularly those being developed by independent inventors and small businesses. One key lesson is that successful demonstrations focus on fully qualified products. Premature prototypes, on the other hand, are more appropriate for field testing, where technical failures can be fixed without severely damaging future market prospects. A second lesson is that multiple and staged demonstrations may be necessary when industry and end-user markets are highly fragmented or when application environments are divergent. Public agencies can promote successful demonstrations in many ways: by finding suitable industrial partners and third-party monitors, by providing subventions that lower the risks and increase economic benefits to participants, and by compiling and disseminating accurate performance data. In addition, government agencies can play a constructive role by helping technology promoters understand the distinction between field tests and demonstrations, and by facilitating multiple demonstrations when necessary.

INTERESTS, EFFORT, ACHIEVEMENT AND VOCATIONAL PREFERENCE

Summary. The components of interest in natural sciences and technology were studied in 100 students in the science and technology divisions of a Swedish secondary school. Also reported were perceived ability, success and invested effort in eight selected school subjects as well as vocational preferences and the reasons for these. Interests were found to be well accounted for by two factors—logical orientation and practical value. Interests and grades were strongly correlated but the correlation between interests and effort was more moderate. Structural analysis of the relationships between interest and achievement‐related variables suggested that effort was mainly directed towards school subjects which students rated as important and in which they perceived a high degree of ability. Furthermore, effort led to success and success to interest. There was, however, little tendency for interest to lead to increased effort. Dispersion of interests correlated with a preference for natural science and technology as compared to the social sciences and the humanities. Interest in school subjects correlated at a moderate level with some of the vocational preferences; these were, however, little related to judged future job market prospects in vocations.

2. Future market prospects for Tasmanian forestry investors

Summary Recent official forecasts of sawlog availability in Tasmania are compared with forecasts of Tasmanian consumption to show a widening surplus of sawlogs. Similar forecasts in Tasmania's major export market, Victoria, indicate that that State may soon overcome its present sawlog deficit. It is argued that market success for sawlogs depends partly on the relative costs of converting them to sawn wood. Recent trends in State averages for those costs are compared for Victoria's main or potential suppliers—Tasmania, South Australia, New Zealand and Victoria itself. The results indicate that States basing their sawmilling industries on softwood plantations have less pronounced cost increases, and thus have better future marketing prospects. The implication is made that for eventual marketing success, private forestry investors should concentrate on softwood plantations or hardwood forests with equivalent utilisation characteristics.

Trends in microcomputers

The BIAS Conference of November 1978 (see the preceding article in this issue) was opened with a Keynote Address by Mr. F. Faggin, President of Zilog. Starting with a retrospective on the most recent history of modern microelectronics, Mr. Faggin assesses the characteristic market changes which result from the ever increasing availability of microcomputers. Some crucial factors which seem to limit the expansion rate of the microcomputer market are pointed out. Today's market can be segmented into four major classes, each of which is briefly described, both technologically and commercially. Future market prospects are assessed in connection with an examination of the trends in LSI technology. Finally, Mr. Faggin discusses the possible social impact of microcomputer technology for the next decades.