Poor Product Design Research Articles

Hierarchy and cause–effect relationship of barriers to circular business models in food systems: a Fuzzy-DEMATEL analysis in the Berlin-Brandenburg area in Germany

ABSTRACT Food systems face significant environmental challenges, necessitating a shift towards sustainability and resource efficiency. Implementing circular economy principles and adopting new business models can significantly contribute to more sustainable food systems. These approaches address major issues in the linear economic model, such as excessive food loss and waste, resource depletion, and market volatility. However, due to various barriers, adopting new circular food systems confronts sluggish progress. This study identifies the hierarchical structure and cause-and-effect relationships of these barriers using the example of selected food systems in Berlin-Brandenburg, Germany. Employing the Fuzzy-DEMATEL analysis approach, this research identifies four primary causal barriers and four effect barriers classified across market development, finance, technological availability, knowledge management, as well as institutional domains. Furthermore, the study ranks these barriers based on their significance. It reveals that the top barriers are poor product design and waste management infrastructure, insufficient quantity and quality of material flow, and a lack of collaboration in the supply chain. In addition, weak policies, along with their inadequate evaluation and monitoring, act as the most influential causal barriers. These findings hold significant implications for practitioners and policymakers striving to promote the transition to circular food systems through innovative business models. Practitioners are advised to prioritize collaborations with different stakeholders to ensure proper waste management, by-product valorization, and resource efficiency. Concurrently, policymakers should enact supportive policies and effective governance structures based on the needs of the businesses and its stakeholders.

Extending the Lifetime of Clothing through Repair and Repurpose: An Investigation of Barriers and Enablers in UK Citizens.

Repairing and repurposing clothes can extend their lifetime, helping reduce the environmental impacts of the fashion industry. We aimed to investigate influences on clothing repair and repurpose using the Theoretical Domains Framework. A survey was conducted with a representative sample of 300 UK citizens. The frequency of, and influences on, clothing repair and repurpose behaviour were measured with self-report scales and a free-text item. Quantitative (logistic regression) and qualitative (thematic) analyses were used to identify barriers and enablers of behaviour. Findings showed that participants typically engaged in the behaviour every six months. The main barriers concerned a lack of skills, poor product design, unaffordability of repair services, and incongruence with identity. Key enablers concerned the ability to focus during DIY tasks, dynamic social norms, beliefs about benefits of repairing, emotional attachment to clothing, and having routines and habits of repairing. This study is the first to apply the Behaviour Change Wheel to identify intervention types and behaviour change techniques that can modify these influences, such as training workshops and the provision of free repair and repurpose services. Policy options were suggested to support implementation, such as extended producer responsibility. Awareness and skill-building campaigns, while important, are not enough to support behaviour change; structural and policy changes are needed.

A Proposed Satellite-Based Crop Insurance System for Smallholder Maize Farming

Crop farming in Sub-Saharan Africa is constantly confronted by extreme weather events. Researchers have been striving to develop different tools that can be used to reduce the impacts of adverse weather on agriculture. Index-based crop insurance (IBCI) has emerged to be one of the tools that could potentially hedge farmers against weather-related risks. However, IBCI is still constrained by poor product design and basis risk. This study complements the efforts to improve IBCI design by evaluating the performances of the Tropical Applications of Meteorology using SATellite data and ground-based observations (TAMSAT) and Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station data (CHIRPS) in estimating rainfall at different spatial scales over the maize-growing season in a smallholder farming area in South Africa. Results show that CHIRPS outperforms TAMSAT and produces better results at 20-day and monthly time steps. The study then uses CHIRPS and a crop water requirements (CWR) model to derive IBCI thresholds and an IBCI payout model. Results of CWR modeling show that this proposed IBCI system can cover the development, mid-season, and late-season stages of maize growth in the study area. The study then uses this information to calculate the weight, trigger, exit, and tick for each of these growth stages. Although this approach is premised on the prevailing conditions in the study area, it can be applied in other areas with different growing conditions to improve IBCI design.

Why digital health trials can fail: Lessons learned from a randomized trial of health coaching and virtual cardiac rehabilitation

BackgroundWe performed a trial to evaluate the efficacy of a blended intervention with personalized health coaching and virtual cardiac rehabilitation to improve medication adherence and risk factors. The trial was terminated early. Here, we describe findings from a root cause analysis and lessons learned.MethodsSmartGUIDE was an open-label, single-center trial that randomized participants with coronary artery disease who were prescribed a statin and/or P2Y12 inhibitor 1:1 to either usual care or the added use of a mobile app with components of cardiac rehabilitation paired with personal virtual coaching. The primary outcome was medication adherence: proportion of days covered (PDC). The planned sample size was 132. We performed a root cause analysis to evaluate processes from study development to closure.ResultsDuring trial conduct, the technology start-up withdrew the intervention. The study was terminated early with 63 participants randomized and data from 26 available for analysis. The median PDC was high in both groups (intervention group 94%, interquartile range [IQR] 88%–96%; control group: 99%, IQR 95%–100%). Root cause analysis identified factors for not achieving trial objectives: key factors that limited enrollment (inclusion criteria, low penetration of compatible smartphones), participant retention or engagement (poor app product, insufficient technology support), and suboptimal choice of a technology partner (technology start-up’s inexperience in health care, poor product design, inadequate fundraising).ConclusionWe identified important and preventable factors leading to trial failure. These factors may be common across digital health trials and may explain prior observations that many such trials are never completed. Careful vetting of technology partners and more pragmatic study designs may prevent these missteps.

Bio-inspirisan sistem za podršku leđima za rančeve

In this paper a solution-driven bionic approach applied in a process of product redesign with intention to improve its ergonomic properties is presented. The main goal was to reformulate and use the properties of a unique natural phenomenon in a specific design field. The skeletal structure of the seahorse, its load-bearing capacity with retained flexibility, was an inspiration to explore products where these properties could be applied for improving the functionality. The research process resulted with detecting a problem caused by poor product design - spine deformities of students caused by non-ergonomic school backpacks. This ignited the idea to use the analyzed biological properties for designing school backpacks with improved ergonomics. The final result was the design of school backpacks with an integrated mechanical system based on the biological skeletal structure of the seahorse which would help to achieve maximum comfort and support the healthy posture of students.

The Demand for Index-Based Microinsurance Reconsidered

Index-based income insurance as a tool to insure the income of agriculturally active households has received certain attention in the scientific and development related discussion. Despite the convincing theoretical argumentation, the demand for these products stays behind expectations. Several studies revealed multiple effects impacting the demand for income insurance such as liquidity constraints, basis risk and lack of trust in insurers and products alike. Several authors conclude that healing these demand impediments would mean to subsidize products and thus foster increase by a decrease of a product’s prize or to train potential customers’ financial literacy. This paper takes a different perspective and hypothesizes that low demand is due to poor product design and inappropriate consideration of processes of income generation and composition. The paper tests the impact of income heterogeneity on insurance demand and draws conclusions that point into redefining underlying indices.

Access to Housing Finance by the Poor and Study of Microfinance for Housing (MFH) in India

Access to housing finance is a major challenge for the poor and low income groups because of underdeveloped housing finance market, high transaction cost, lack of collateral, type of housing credit and other factors specific to local area. The paper analyzes nature and pattern of microfinance for housing (MFH) in India and its impact on low segment housing finance. Using primary data collected from microcredit clients from different regions in two southern states in India (Kerala and Karnataka) it discusses two different MFH schemes to understand low segment housing finance and its impact on rural housing activities. Our data support to estimate the approximate size of the low segment housing credit market and the existing gap between demand for and supply of such credit. Findings of the paper offer better understanding about functioning of low segment housing finance markets and potential to improve housing condition of the poor through developing such markets including MFH. Major constraints of MFH program in India are inadequate fund, poor product design, low scale of operation scale and policy related issue. Inter-links between microcredit and MFH is evident from our data. Average demand for housing credit was estimated three times higher than its supply and mostly for new construction of houses rather to repair and renovate existing houses. Though MFH found inadequate to meet the demand for housing credit but it works as kick starts for housing activities and influences household decision making in terms of start of housing activities, fund arrangement and utilization, allocation of resources, asset creation etc. which are crucial for the poor. Housing activities in our study not found progressive as argued by earlier study [1].

Financial literacy education and behaviour unhinged: combating bias and poor product design

AbstractThe growth of products available in the consumer financial market has provided more choice and formal control over household financial decisions than ever before. Financial literacy education programs are generally assumed to improve consumer behaviour in relation to financial products and services. However, there is scant evidence that demonstrates the causal link between education, literacy and behaviour. Through the use of a sample study, we show that the actions of individuals who are financially literate do not necessarily mean they will demonstrate good financial behaviour. We propose that in order to improve the financial behaviour of consumers, two critical areas need to be addressed. Firstly, the objectives of financial literacy programs should be not only to educate consumers about financial markets and products but highlight to individuals the psychological biases and limitations that they as humans cannot easily avoid. Secondly, the regulation of financial products sold to consumers needs alteration to meet the aim of protecting retail consumers from complex financial products that are confusing, ambiguous and inappropriate. We propose regulation and redesign of product information offerings using techniques employed in ecological interface design models to derive a suitability test for consumer financial products.

Domestic product failures – Case studies

Every year in the UK more than 4000 people die in accidents in and around the home and nearly three million turn up at accident and emergency departments seeking treatment. Intrinsic in this number are many incidents of injury or death directly attributable to poor product design or manufacture of domestic products. In and around the home, commodities that dominate so much of every-day life are becoming more numerous and complex and could be mooted as an argument for such dire statistics. Moreover, society in general is becoming more litigious. These converging trends are responsible for an increasing significance of product liability. When property is damaged, personal injury sustained or loss of life occurs there is an understandable need to determine where any fault may lie. The forensic (or failure) engineer will glean relevant information through meticulous investigation and a reverse engineering process. Reconstructing the failure will uncover any inherent defect in product design, manufacturing, incorrect installation or maintenance. However, product failure can also be attributable to careless use or abuse by the individual, rather than to any specific defect or design shortcoming being inherent within a product. Ultimately the outcome of any investigation will be a sound finding and a conclusion that clearly describes what happened and why. To illustrate typical failure modes that are currently emerging in the home-based UK market, a range of domestic product failures are presented from the author’s forensic casebook.

Legal and Scientific Considerations in Nonclinical Assessment of Biotechnology Products

Nonclinical evaluation of biotechnology-derived products is no longer an academic pursuit in product development. The conduct of relevant nonclinical studies serves the purposes of regulatory compliance and managing potential risks that may be associated with the product or the process. While the legal framework for the regulation of biotechnology/biological products is administratively different between the United States and the European Union, the scientific principles underpinning the safety, quality, and efficacy of biotechnology-derived products are not markedly different. Technical guidelines already developed at the International Conference on Harmonisation have been helpful in addressing global development of biotechnology-derived products. At each stage of any drug development program, product liability risks arising from poor product design as well as regulatory requirements must be considered. This article also briefly addresses the European product liability law as it relates to nonclinical evaluation of biotechnology-derived products.

Managing New Product Development Processes the Right Way

Companies successful in one product category or technology often fail badly when they enter into new markets or new technologies. The failure is not due to poor personnel or poor product design. In most cases the failure results from an inappropriate management approach to the new product development project. In this paper, we examine the reasons for such failures and present case studies of successful and failing projects. We relate these incidents to a theoretical framework for classifying new product development projects based on their contextual nature. This framework leads to determining the right approach for any new product development project based on its contextual nature.

Seniors' attributions for task performance difficulties: implications for feelings of task efficacy.

Some seniors face difficulties carrying out simple everyday tasks such as opening containers and turning doorknobs. This study began with the premise that seniors' appraisals about such difficulties may have consequences for feelings of task efficacy (e.g., feelings of control and optimism). Attributions to poor product design (an external/environmental factor) and to limitations (an internal/personal factor) were considered in addition to joint attributions to both factors. After controlling for health and gender, type of attribution for task difficulties was found to relate to feelings of task efficacy. Overall, the results suggest that seniors may be advantaged by viewing their performance difficulties as a consequence of poor product design. Compared to their counterparts, these individuals reported the highest levels of control, ability to cope, optimism, and beliefs about overcoming problems. Individuals who made joint attributions reported feeling most helpless and unable to cope with the present problems.

Exploiting the potential

States that industrial design has in the past emphasized styling and tended to ignore the importance of satisfying consumer needs. Suggests companies should learn to cultivate designers′ skills by integrating industrial designers from early on in the process, harnessing the full potential of industrial design. Indicates that most Western companies have poor product design management. Suggests that one way to help improve both integration and design management would be through extra postgraduate education.

New product sales forecasting without past sales data

Thousands of new products are offered to consumers each year. In 1961, O'Meara reported that the failure rate of new produ,ts was 80% (~ee [ 10]). An article in the March 2, 1972 issue of Business Week found that the failure rate remained at 8 out of 10 (see [91). The capital, materials, time, and human effort used in producing 80% of the new products are wasted. If the farmers in America wasted 80% of their crops, it wc uld be a national scandal. If lumber companies only used lumber from two of every ten trees logged, env2~onmentalist.~ would have the public in an uproar. It's ,~nthinkable to put 80% of our resources to unproductive processes. Yet, that is exactly what happens in the marketing of new products. Particularly unpalatable is the fact that many resources wasted in new product marketing are nonrenewable. Time, capital, and thinking energies can never be renewed. The reasons for the failure of new product offerings are varied and include poor marketing, poor product design, and/or bad timing. Whatever the reason, if the company had had an accurate sales forecast, most of these products would never been marketed. Forecasting wlfich overestimates sales can lead a company to lose money through overproduction. The equally tragic experience of underestimation prevents a potentially profitable product from being fully marketed.