Gathering Strategies Research Articles

Developing small business operations in foreign markets: foundation‐building strategies for steady growth and profitability

Great numbers of small European and US firms are trying to penetrate foreign markets. Misunderstood requirements and poorly investigated information typically cause missed opportunities and failures. Without the ability to recognize and utilize competitive information in a timely manner, the small firm cannot succeed in the foreign market. Small firms that are preparing for and meeting international opportunities could benefit from the utilization of the foundation‐building strategies proposed in this paper. Small firms can use these strategies for information gathering and analysis in international and domestic business environments. The authors of this paper recommend 11 interrelated sets of processes or “foundation‐building strategies” which provide the necessary framework for readying the small firm for successful entry into the foreign marketplace. These sets of processes or “foundation‐building strategies” comprise the 11 most important planning steps for small business success in foreign markets. Small businesses must know the right questions to ask and must analyze the findings carefully in order to enter and operate successfully in foreign markets.

A test of anxiety/uncertainty management theory: The intercultural adaptation context

Anxiety/Uncertainty Management theory, as formulated by Gudykunst and Hammer (1987a), proposes that intercultural adaptation outcomes are based on the two mediating dimensions of uncertainty reduction and anxiety reduction and sixteen secondary variables that systematically influence uncertainty and anxiety reduction. In this paper, the sixteen variables originally identified are categorized into four “fundamental factors”; (interpersonal saliencies, intergroup saliencies, communication message exchange, and host contact conditions). The present study examines this revised Anxiety/Uncertainty Management (AUM) theory of intercultural adaptation. A total of 291 international students at two universities in the United States participated in the study. The study found overall fit of the revised AUM theory vis‐a‐vis the two mediating factors of uncertainty and anxiety reduction, the importance of interpersonal saliencies for uncertainty reduction, and the importance of host contact conditions for facilitating feelings of comfort and reducing anxiety. Intergroup saliencies were significantly related to uncertainty reduction but not, contrary to expectation, to anxiety reduction. Communication message exchange (which consists of information gathering strategies and second language proficiency) was, again contrary to expectation, not significantly related to either uncertainty or anxiety reduction. Finally, cultural identity showed a small though significant negative relationship to intergroup saliencies, suggesting a stronger, ingroup identity was associated with increased uncertainty. The paper concludes by proffering explanations for the findings and suggestions for future research.

Constraints on First Reproduction in North American Red Squirrels

Age at first reproduction influences lifetime reproductive success of individuals and growth rates of populations, and is thus of general interest to ecologists. In red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) populations, yearlings and older nulliparous females (age two and above) are less likely to have a litter than multiparous females (i.e. those that have bred before). To explain these life history traits we tested several hypotheses for why particular females fail to breed in a given year. In a five-year study of red squirrels in a jack pine (Pinus banksiana) forest in central Alberta, Canada, the probability of primiparity (i.e. producing a litter for the first time) was correlated with cone crop size, but doubling the caches of cones available to females failed to increase the probability of first time reproduction. Cones were never completely depleted on any territory, so first reproduction rarely appeared to be restricted by absolute food availability on a territory. We hypothesize, that first reproduction is constrained by the squirrel's ability to obtain seed energy enclosed in serotinous cones that vary in distribution on a territory. We found that the probability of primiparity is lower and more variable between years than that of multiparity, because foraging and cone-handling efficiencies vary more in younger than in older squirrels. Nulliparous females given sunflower seeds to reduce handling time were two to six times more likely to produce a first litter than controls extracting seed from jack pine cones. Small body size, inexperience with seed extraction from serotinous cones, and a lack of strategies for gathering and using cones from a new territory are supported as mechanisms that constrain primiparity, especially in yearlings. Cold spring temperatures added a further constraint in one year, as did absolute cone crop size. Multiparous females strip the bracts off cones in the autumn, reducing handling costs in winter and spring, while young nulliparous females lacked such behavioural compensation. In jack pine, reproductive success of red squirrels depends upon behaviour adapted to a seed supply that is abundant but costly to extract from serotinous cones.

Sensitivity, uncertainty, and decision analyses in the prioritization of research

The evaluation of hazards from complex, large scale, technologically advanced systems often requires the construction of computer implemented mathematical models. These models are used to evaluate the safety of the systems and to evaluate the consequences of modifications to the systems. These evaluations, however, are normally surrounded by significant uncertainties related to the uncertainty inherent in natural phenomena such as the weather and those related to uncertainties in the parameters and models used in the evaluation. Another use of these models is to evaluate strategies for improving information used in the modeling process itself. While sensitivity analysis is useful in defining variables in the model that are important, uncertainty analysis provides a tool for assessing the importance of uncertainty about these variables. A third complementary technique, is decision analysis. It provides a methodology for explicitly evaluating and ranking potential improvements to the model. Its use in the development of information gathering strategies for a nuclear waste repository are discussed in this paper.

Comparative primate energetics and hominid evolution

There is currently great interest in developing ecological models for investigating human evolution. Yet little attention has been given to energetics, one of the cornerstones of modern ecosystem ecology. This paper examines the ecological correlates of variation in metabolic requirements among extant primate species, and uses this information to draw inferences about the changes in energy demands over the course of human evolution. Data on body size, resting metabolism, and activity budgets for selected anthropoid species and human hunter-gatherers are used to estimate total energy expenditure (TEE). Analyses indicate that relative energy expenditure levels and day ranges are positively correlated with diet quality; that is, more active species tend to consume more energy-rich diets. Human foragers fall at the positive extremes for modern primates in having high expenditure levels, large ranges, and very high quality diets. During hominid evolution, it appears that TEE increased substantially with the emergence of Homo erectus. This increase is partly attributable to larger body size as well as likely increases in day range and activity level. Assuming similar activity budgets for all early hominid species, estimated TEE for H. erectus is 40-45% greater than for the australopithecines. If, however, it is assumed that the evolution of early Homo was also associated with a shift to a more "human-like" foraging strategy, estimated expenditure levels for H. erectus are 80-85% greater than in the australopithecines. Changing patterns of resource distribution associated with the expansion of African savannas between 2.5 and 1.5 mya may been the impetus for a shift in foraging behavior among early members of the genus Homo. Such ecological changes likely would have made animal foods a more attractive resource. Moreover, greater use of animal foods and the resulting higher quality diet would have been important for supporting the larger day ranges and greater energy requirements that appear to have been associated with the evolution of a human-like hunting and gathering strategy.

Quality Improvement in a College of Engineering Instructional Program

AbstractThis paper summarizes one institution's efforts to develop an ongoing strategy for gathering and analyzing data from constituents for use in appraisal and improvement efforts in its instructional programs. Although a large number of different constituents were identified, for logistical reasons it was decided to focus on five groups: undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty, alumni and industry. The primary emphasis of this paper is on the results from the alumni and industry surveys. Demographics of these two groups are given and the influence of these characteristics on responses to survey questions is noted. Comparisons drawn among the two groups show that alumni and industry responses are virtually identical on the importance of specific attributes associated with newly graduated engineers. A short discussion is also given which compares the responses of all five constituent groups on certain instructional program attributes.

Recherche d'information. Partie I : « Partie I Le paradigme de la confirmation d'hypothèse».

Summary : Social value of hypothesis confirmation. In a first paper (Dardenne, Leyens and Yzerbyt, 1997), we presented studies on information gathering strategies and hypothesis confirmation in the field of social psychology. In this second paper, we suggest that confirmatory strategies should be investigated according to the goals of the interaction. Social perception is too often seen as driven by an accuracy goal. In addition, traditional studies are conducted without interpersonal interaction, as if perception was aimed at solving an intellectual problem. This focus on interaction and a diversity of goals sheds a new light on the social perceiver. It appears that hypothesis confirmation has important social functions. Key words : information gathering, hypothesis confirmation, goals of social interaction, social cognition.

Contemporary Shellfish Gathering Strategies among the Meriam of the Torres Strait Islands, Australia: Testing Predictions of a Central Place Foraging Model

This paper explores a central place foraging model with data on Meriam intertidal shellfish gathering strategies, field processing practices, patterns of resource transport, and consequences of these factors for introducing variability in shell assemblage composition among these Islanders of the eastern Torres Strait, Australia. As a result of differential field processing and shell material transport, we show that some species are likely to be consistently over-represented in shell assemblages while others are likely to be under-represented relative to their actual dietary importance. Explanations for this behavior are tested with the predictions of a central place forging model derived from behavioral ecology. We find consistent relationships between the anticipated and observed patterns of transport for five species. These results have implications for current thought about the relationship between faunal assemblages and transport behavior in a wide array of contexts, interpretations of site function and settlement patterns, and arguments about role of shellfish in prehistoric diets.

Recherche d'information. Partie II : « Utilité sociale de la confirmation d'hypothèse»

Summary : Social value of hypothesis confirmation. In a first paper (Dardenne, Leyens and Yzerbyt, 1997), we presented studies on information gathering strategies and hypothesis confirmation in the field of social psychology. In this second paper, we suggest that confirmatory strategies should be investigated according to the goals of the interaction. Social perception is too often seen as driven by an accuracy goal. In addition, traditional studies are conducted without interpersonal interaction, as if perception was aimed at solving an intellectual problem. This focus on interaction and a diversity of goals sheds a new light on the social perceiver. It appears that hypothesis confirmation has important social functions. Key words : information gathering, hypothesis confirmation, goals of social interaction, social cognition.

A probabilistic reasoning model: Formulation and control strategy

It has been recognized that past experiences of a decision maker often plays a pivotal role in solving new problem instances. Therefore, the ability to model human reasoning processes has become an important subject of research in recent years. In many applications, the reasoning process must deal with uncertainty inherent in the problem domain. This research addresses the issue of supporting the model formulation and data acquisition processes for situations that (i) operate under uncertain conditions, and (ii) utilize evidential information that is gathered in stages. A theoretical framework is presented for the probabilistic formulation of the reasoning process that incorporates past experiences. The model is validated by testing its performance on simulated data, and is shown to work well when a sufficiently large number of cases are available for estimating probabilities. The probabilistic reasoning system can revise beliefs in an intuitively appealing and theoretically sound manner when information is acquired in an incremental fashion. Two dynamic information gathering strategies are discussed for such a reasoning system, one using information theoretic techniques, and the other using decision theoretic techniques.

When pigeons home alone: does flocking have a navigational function?

Using the flocking tendencies of homing pigeons ( Columba livia ) in flight, a first attempt was made to test directly the hypothesis that group movement may have a navigational function. We manipulated the potential advantage of transfer of navigational information by releasing pairs of homing pigeons in which none, one or both of the birds had previously been released at sites about 25 km from the home loft (while overall flying experience was standardized). Contrary to our prediction, locally naive birds did not follow experienced birds home, whereas experienced birds, with less navigational need to flock, were generally still paired on arrival home. Pairs in which both birds were locally naive also tended not to home together. Under the conditions of our experiment, the tendency to fly together appeared not to have a navigational function. However, and contrary to recent conclusions in the literature, our results do suggest that the initial flight behaviour of birds at novel release sites may constitute a navigational information gathering strategy that is sufficiently important to over-ride gregarious tendencies when the two conflict.

STUDENTS' PERCEPTIONS OF THE LIBRARY SERVICE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX: PRACTICAL QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE RESEARCH IN AN ACADEMIC LIBRARY

This paper describes quantitative and qualitative research undertaken at the University of Sussex Library. The research was concerned to investigate the behaviour and motivations that led Library users to give puzzling responses in a user survey into book availability. The responses concerned the Library's Reserve Collection of key course texts. Hence the paper firstly sets out to describe the user survey, and then goes on to give an account of the qualitative research methodology employed to look beyond the survey results. This methodology involved semi‐structured interviews with students and tutors, which were analysed with the help of the software package QSR NUD*1st. The research uncovered interesting and useful information relating to the way Library users approach the Library service, a summary of which is included in the paper. The research methodology was found to be a valuable addition to the information gathering strategies of Library management, revealing patterns of user attitudes that are difficult if not impossible to access using traditional survey techniques alone.

A comparison of three information gathering strategies in DAI systems under noisy conditions

This paper investigates a problem of task allocation in Distributed Artificial Intelligence (DAI) systems, where a coordinator allocates tasks among multiple agents in an optimal manner. In making the task allocation, the coordinator needs to understand the preference orders of the agents for the different task bundles. The coordinator does this by adopting an information acquisition strategy that leads to an optimal system welfare. Three different information acquisition strategies are investigated here. The strategies are compared in a noisy environment for the quality of information they provide in terms of the deviation from optimal system welfare. Copyright 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd

Community and Industrial Mediation in South Korea

This study investigates the mediations of 95 community and 95 industrial mediators in South Korea. The mediators' reports of their last mediation indicated the frequency with which they used 36 mediation techniques. In addition, their information revealed the strategies—data gathering, reconciliation, dependency, analysis—they employed in their mediations. We expected to find the data gathering and reconciliation strategies. Although unexpected, the dependency strategy is very consistent with the Confucian emphasis on interpersonal harmony. And we attribute the analysis strategy to the Korean mediators' low formal power or to their exposure to an industrialized environment.

Information Issues in Model Specification

This paper explores the tradeoffs and information issues in model specification, i.e., choosing the appropriate level of detail and precision of decision support models. For many real-time and distributed decision problems, decision-makers face a wide spectrum of information gathering choices that vary in the amount and quality of information as well as their associated costs and delays. Modeling these problems raises several operational and strategic questions including: • how much and what type of information to acquire before making a decision. • what protocol to use for exchanging information among multiple decision-makers. • what organization and information structure (e.g., centralized, coordinated, distributed) to use for effective information sharing and decision-making. We highlight the modeling issues and tradeoffs using examples from production planning, distributed processing, and network routing, and draw upon research in diverse fields, including information economics and game theory, knowledge logic in computer science, and distributed computation, to obtain model specification insights. Our discussions emphasize and illustrate two main model specification themes. First, acquiring additional information often has diminishing returns (in terms of the quality of decisions suggested by the model); therefore, an imprecise model based on partial information might be more appropriate than using a detailed and accurate model that identifies ‘optimal’ decisions. Concepts from information economics and team theory provide a framework for analyzing this tradeoff. We also briefly discuss some heuristic methods to identify effective information gathering strategies. Our second theme applies to systems consisting of several decision-makers who make interdependent decisions. In this context, the decision model for each agent must be based on an understanding of what information to exchange, how frequently, and what protocol to use for exchanging information. We illustrate how complete information sharing among distributed decision-makers might even be impossible because of a possible dead-lock in decision-making. This game-theoretic phenomenon has implications for designing the organization structure, information systems, and communication protocols to support multi-agent decision-making.

Strategies for data gathering and evaluation in the intelligence community

Strategies for data gathering and evaluation in the intelligence community

Just keeping current entails ingenuity, resourcefulness, and improvisation (R&D)

Strategies for information gathering that go beyond just reading journals and attending conferences are examined. Among them are the use of electronic mail, visiting other companies, circulating reports within the company, and communicating with marketing departments. The practice of bootlegging time, equipment, and materials to keep a line of research out of the internal information flow, at least temporarily, because of a special insight into and conviction about the value of a field (even if it happens to be at variance with what top managers may see as important) is discussed.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

Estimating model reliability using data with uncertainty

A method is presented which permits researchers to evaluate the probability that a model which has been parameterized using field measured data will predict future system state to within a prescribed degree of accuracy. Unlike error analysis, which describes the distribution of model output due to input uncertainty, reliability analysis seeks to estimate the frequency with which model output matches system state. The method offers insight into data gathering strategies which will increase the chance of accurate prediction. Applications for reliability analysis seem especially appropriate in situations where models are part of the decision process in natural systems management.

Oxygen isotope analysis: a means for determining the seasonal gathering of the pipi (Donax deltoides) by Aborigines in prehistoric Australia

The number of theses and paper in which the question of seasonally arises (e. g. Attenbrow 1976; Bailey 1975; Bowdler 1970, 1984; Callaghan 1980; Coleman 1982; Coutts 1970; Coutts et al. 1984; Draper 1978; Gaughwin 1983; Gaughwin and Brennan 1986; Geering 1982; Hall 1980, 1982; Hope and Coutts 1971; Hotchin 1982; Jones 1971; Jones and Allen 1980; Lampert 1966, 1971; Lourandos 1980; Luebbers 1978; McBryde 1982; Neal 1981; Poinef 1976; Sullivan 1982; Vanderwal and Horton 1984) indicates the importance this factor has for prehistorians in understanding Aboriginal hunting and gathering strategies. Most studies though, have been limited by the scarcity of historical references and by the available methods of analysis. Where the archaeological evidence has been considered (e. g. Gaughwin and Brennan 1986; Hotchin 1982; Lampert 1966; Sullivan 1982) it is usually limited to the numerically scarcer components of sites, such as the bones of migratory birds and fish of which there are very few species represented, the shells of birds' eggs and occasionally some plant remains. The presence of certain seal bones can help identify when some sites were occupied (Jones 1971; Vanderwal and Horton 1984), but other osteological studies have been inconclusive (Geering 1982). Among the few attempts to analyze the shells of marine molluscs, which are the dominant component of most middens, only one study seems to have some promise (Draper 1978: Appendix 2). The other research projects have been inconclusive or have failed (Callaghan 1980; Coutts 1970; Luebbers 1978; Neale 1981 for comments on the work of Callaghan, Luebbers and Neale see Godfrey 1984). The method discussed in this paper is the first which can be successfully used to determine the times of the year that Aborigines were gathering the pipi, Donax deltoides (Plebidonax).

The Influence of the Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Plant Food Resources on Traditional Martujarra Subsistence Strategies

The methods that were used to integrate human and plant studies and the way in which ecological parameters may have influenced the subsistence strategies of Martujarra Aborigines are discussed. The of the Martujarra gatherers are considered within a framework that highlights both gathering strategies and mobility strategies.