Number Of Market Segments Research Articles

Enhancing affordability and profit in a non-cooperative, coordinated, hypothetical pediatric vaccine market via sequential optimization.

This study considers a hypothetical global pediatric vaccine market where multiple coordinating entities make optimal procurement decisions on behalf of countries with different purchasing power. Each entity aims to improve affordability for its countries while maintaining a profitable market for vaccine producers. This study analyzes the effect of several factors on affordability and profitability, including the number of non-cooperative coordinating entities making procuring decisions, the number of market segments in which countries are grouped for tiered pricing purposes, how producers recover fixed production costs, and the procuring order of the coordinating entities. The study relies on a framework where entities negotiate sequentially with vaccine producers using a three-stage optimization process that solves a MIP and two LP problems to determine the optimal procurement plans and prices per dose that maximize savings for the entities' countries and profit for the vaccine producers. The study's results challenge current vaccine market dynamics and contribute novel alternative strategies to orchestrate the interaction of buyers, producers, and coordinating entities for enhancing affordability in a non-cooperative market. Key results show that the order in which the coordinating entities negotiate with vaccine producers and how the latter recuperate their fixed cost investments can significantly affect profitability and affordability. Furthermore, low-income countries can meet their demands more affordably by procuring vaccines through tiered pricing via entities coordinating many market segments. In contrast, upper-middle and high-income countries increase their affordability by procuring through entities with fewer and more extensive market segments. A procurement order that prioritizes entities based on the descending income level of their countries offers higher opportunities to increase affordability and profit when producers offer volume discounts.

Heterogeneous Firms and Asymmetric Product Differentiation

We introduce asymmetric product differentiation in a model characterized by a linear demand system, endogenous markups and heterogeneous firms (as in Melitz‐Ottaviano [2008]). In particular, a single industry is divided into a number of market segments, each characterized by a different degree of horizontal product differentiation. Such a setup allows us to explain, within a single theoretical framework, the non‐linear relations between firm productivity, size and exporting behavior that have been documented by the empirical literature. The theoretical results are tested empirically by examining the performance of French wine producers operating in market segments characterized by different levels of horizontal product differentiation. Such segments are identified using the official classification of French wines based upon the controlled denomination of origin, i.e., the Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC) system.

Extending TETRA with wireless sensor networks

The Terrestrial Trunked Radio TETRA system is an open standard developed by ETSI and designed to support mobile radio communications in a number of market segments, among which public safety is by far the largest one. In this paper, we present the activities to the 'TETRis - TETRA Innovative Open Source Services' project to integrate wireless sensor networks technology with TETRA, in order to support real-time feedback in two application contexts relevant in public safety scenarios: structural health monitoring and air quality monitoring. The WSN deployed in our testbed is based on the MagoNode platform, a new mote featuring an RF front-end capable to enhance the radio performance. The results of the experimental activity confirm that WSNs can be effectively used to support the management of critical situations in the considered scenarios and that the MagoNode platform well meet the requirements provided by experts on structural health monitoring.

Identifying Small Market Segments with Mixture Regression Models

The purpose of this work is to determine howwell criteria designed to help the selection of theadequate number of market segments perform inrecovering small niche market segments, in mixtureregressions of normal data. As in real world data thetrue number of market segments is unknown, theresults of this study are based on experimental data.The simulation experiment compares 27 segmentretention criteria, comprising 14 information criteriaand 13 classification-based criteria. The results revealthat AIC3, AIC4, HQ, BIC, CAIC, ICLBIC andICOMPLBIC are the best criteria in recovering smallniche segments and encourage its use.

Demand for taxi services: new elasticity evidence

This paper investigates the factors that influence the choice of, and hence demand for taxis services, a relatively neglected mode in the urban travel task. Given the importance of positioning preferences for taxi services within the broader set of modal options, we develop a modal choice model for all available modes of transport for trips undertaken by individuals or groups of individuals in a number of market segments. A sample of recent trips in Melbourne in 2012 was used to develop segment-specific mode choice models to obtain direct (and cross) elasticities of interest for cost and service level attributes. Given the nonlinear functional form of the way attributes of interest are included in the modal choice models, a simple set of mean elasticity estimates are not behaviourally meaningful; hence a decision support system is developed to enable the calculation of mean elasticity estimates under specific future service and pricing levels. Some specific direct elasticity estimates are provided as the basis of illustrating the magnitudes of elasticity estimates under likely policy settings.

Customer-Class Pricing, Parallel Trade and the Optimal Number of Market Segments

We consider the optimal market segmentation problem of a monopolist that faces a continuum of customers when it is costly to prevent resale (or parallel trade) among groups. In our framework, the monopolist chooses the number k of market segments, but also their design and the discriminatory prices. All these quantities are chosen to maximize the total profit. We solve the profit maximization problem when demands are linear and parallel as a function of the cost of separating markets. We show that market segmentation and prices can not be chosen independently, and we also show that it is optimal to create only a few market segments. We then turn to the welfare analysis and show that the socially optimal number of market segment is equal to three.

A Global Review of Insurance Industry Responses to Climate Change

A vanguard of insurers is adapting its business model to the realities of climate change. In many ways, insurers are still catching up both to mainstream science and to their customers, which, in response to climate change and energy volatility, are increasingly changing the way they construct buildings, transport people and goods, design products and produce energy. Customers, as well as regulators and shareholders, are eager to see insurers provide more products and services that respond to the ‘‘greening’’ of the global economy, expand their efforts to improve disaster resilience and otherwise be proactive about the climate change threat. Insurers are increasingly recognising the issue as one of ‘‘enterprise risk management’’ (ERM), one cutting across the domains of underwriting, asset management and corporate governance. Their responses are becoming correspondingly sophisticated. Based on a review of more than 300 source documents, plus a direct survey of insurance companies, we have identified 643 specific activities from 244 insurance entities from 29 countries, representing a 50 per cent year-over-year increase in activity. These entities collectively represent $1.2 trillion in annual premiums and $13 trillion in assets, while employing 2.2 million people. In addition to activities on the part of 189 insurers, eight reinsurers, 20 intermediaries and 27 insurance organisations, we identified 34 non-insurance entities that have collaborated in these efforts. Challenges and opportunities include bringing promising products and services to scale, continuing to identify and fill market and coverage gaps and identifying and confirming the veracity of green improvements. There is also need for convergence between sustainability and disaster resilience, greater engagement by insurers in adaptation to unavoidable climate changes and to clarify the role that regulators will play in moving the market. It has not yet been demonstrated how some insurance lines might respond to climate change and a number of market segments have not yet been served with a single green insurance product or service. As insurer activities obtain more prominence, they also will be subject to more scrutiny and expectations that they are not simply greenwashing. The Geneva Papers (2009) 34, 323–359. doi:10.1057/gpp.2009.14

Impact of cross-national diffusion process in telecommunications demand forecasting

New product diffusion process studies focus mainly on estimating the adoption rate of the product, within the boundaries of the targeted market. However, and especially for high technology and telecommunications products, it is very likely the case that products or services are introduced simultaneously into a number of market segments, a fact that it is rarely taken into account. Thus, the effect of market and population interaction, and the consequent co-influence in the diffusion rates is not considered. This work focuses on developing and evaluating a pertinent methodology, so as to capture this cross-national interaction influence in the diffusion process.

Book Review

The book contains 14 chapters, distributed into 5 parts, that range in length from approximately 10 to 12 pages. The introductory chapter is addressing a general perspective of the book, its organization and main goals, giving also some misguided perspectives on marketing nutrition of four hypothetical people: a dietitian, a government administrator, a marketing manager, and a researcher. Part 1 deals with the secrets about food and people. It starts looking at the gap between what people know and what they do, emphasizing the importance of nutritional knowledge. It follows with some curious materials (declassified Department of Defence documents) and finishes illustrating that the tastes of consumers are very suggestible. For instance, the author states that descriptive names for foods make people taste what they believe they will taste. Part 2 describes the tools for targeting. The first two chapters examine techniques useful to identify the taste preferences among a number of market segments. It examines the importance of profiling as a method to better understand who the perfect consumers are and also a kind of mental mapping to understand why consumers act as they do. This part is finished with the influence of cooking for consumers to make a selection of nutritional foods and targeting. Part 3 is focused on the health of nations. This part addresses the five main drivers of food consumption, why the 5-a-day programs often fail in the objective, the need for marketers to continue evaluating benefits and risks of biotechnology and, finally

Microgrid Viability for Small-Scale Cooling, Heating, and Power

Cooling, heating, and power (CHP) energy systems provide higher fuel efficiency than conventional systems, resulting in reduced fuel consumption, reduced emissions, and other environmental benefits. Until recently the focus of CHP system development has been primarily on medium-scale commercial applications in a limited number of market segments where clear value propositions lead to short term payback. Small-scale integrated CHP systems that show promise of achieving economic viability through significant improvements in fuel utilization have received increased attention lately. In this paper the economic potential is quantified for small-scale (microgrid) integrated CHP systems suitable for groups of buildings with aggregate electric loads in the 15-120kW range. Technologies are evaluated for community building groups (CBGs) consisting of aggregation of pure residential entities and combined residential and light commercial entities. Emphasis is on determination of the minimum load size (i.e., the smallest electric and thermal load for a given CBG that is supplied with electric, heating, cooling power from a CHP) for which a microgrid CHP system is both technically and economically viable. In this paper, the operation of the CHP system is parallel with the public utility grid at all times, i.e., the grid is interconnected. Evaluations of CHP technology options using simulation studies in a “three-dimensional” space (CHP technology option, CBG load aggregation, and geographical location in the USA) were evaluated based on comparisons of net present value (NPV). The simulations indicated that as electric load increases, the viability of the CHP system (independent of the system’s size) becomes more favorable. Exceeding a system runtime (utilization) of 70% was shown to pass the break-even line in the NPV analysis. Finally, geographic location was found to have a relatively weak effect on the reported trends. These results suggest that microgrid CHP systems have the potential to be economically viable with relative independence of geographic location if adequately sized to match the specific load requirements.

Trade-offs between consumer concerns: An application for pork supply chains

This paper studies, by means of customized conjoint analysis, the trade-offs that Dutch consumers make between multiple pork-production attributes, and their relation to consumer concerns. Results show that attributes that deal with animal welfare and food safety are on average perceived as the most important pork-production attributes. Not surprisingly, they are less important than the product attributes taste and price. Still, a number of market segments can be identified in which taste and price are relatively less important. Results support the implementation of differentiated chain designs with distinct and innovative decisions on trade-offs to be made, such as with respect to the housing of pigs and the use of genetic modification.

62.3: Reflective Bistable Smectic-A Passive Matrix LCDs

The bistability, wide viewing angle, paper-like sunlight readability and outstanding transmission of displays based on the effect of electrically reversible memory in SmA LC fulfills the needs of certain application areas and opens new application possibilities. This paper focuses on the performance, manufacturing aspects and the current areas of SmA displays development. The simplicity of the display and its manufacturing has enabled PolyDisplay ASA to start commercialization of EASL DMD™ products based on SmA LC within a number of market segments.

Service operations management as a conceptual framework for facility management

This paper focuses on providing a conceptual model for facility management, which has seen sustained economic growth and market development in the past ten years and that it has been one of the more robust service sector employers. It notes that facility management needs to be more closely aligned to a management discipline to enable it to differentiate itself as it develops within the service sector. There are a number of market segments which are brought together by facility management operations: property, built environment, catering, cleaning, security and engineering services are but a few. In order to provide more coherence to the facility management sector, these activities would benefit from being placed within the context of a mainstream management discipline. This paper states that the lack of conceptual or theoretical management framework is perhaps in part the reason why facility management remains misunderstood in the general business sector.

The strategic states model: optimum strategies to reach high performance

Argues that there exists no universal business strategy such as the constant building of larger volumes. Instead the article advocates that any business strategy needs to rely on a deeper understanding of the freedom of action.Thus, the article presents the strategic states model and proposes that there is an optimum business strategy in each state to reach high performance, and this strategy emphasizes a specific combination of competitive edges. In the model, the environment of a company is reflected in the dimension of the number of market segments that are being focused on, while the other dimension concerns the adaptation of the offer to customers’ requirements. The freedom of action and optimum strategies to reach high performance vary within the frame given by the two dimensions.

Optimal hotel segmentation mix strategy

A model for the selection of the optimal mix of market segments (the total number of market segments and the specific market segments included) of a hotel is suggested. It is evaluated for a given set of potential market segments, when the individual demand curves are known in each segment. The problem is formulated as an efficient single state-variable Dynamic Programming model. It is suggested that the derived static results should be the optimal strategy to be used (instead of unfounded management directives) as input to tactical yield management policies in stochastic environments. A numerical example is provided for a 400-room hotel.

Grades/Classes of Hard Wheats Exported from North America: Analysis of Growth and Market Segments

Issues about grain quality are integral to export demand and competition. In the past, debate focused on wheat class and country of origin. This study analyzed changes in imports for wheat grades and classes for hard wheats in Canada and the United States. Clustering techniques were utilized to examine importer behavior and identify market segments for characteristics of U.S. wheats over time. Shifts in marketing toward shipment of specific classes and from lower to higher grades were identified. Cluster analysis indicated changes in composition and an increase in the number of market segments.

Marketing Planning of Financial Services

Market planning cuts across departmental and functional boundaries, differing cultural and divisional demarcation lines, but maintains a central point common to all areas: the acceptance that the customer is the sole and final judge, the product expert. Hierarchy must be kept out of market planning; it should gather the experience of many managers and articulate this within a new culture developed from the lowest possible level. Product and market champions need to be given room, encouraged to form teams and produce strategies based on a limited number of market segments and a few chosen target competitors, in order to keep strategic plans as simple as possible.