•First attempt to use extended warranties (EW) to coordinate the quality of store-brand products.•Product quality is endogenous and the probability of failure depends on the manufacturer’s ...effort.•Examine three EW contracts: fixed fee, proportional sharing, and manufacturer direct.•All the three contracts provide incentives for the manufacturer to improve the product quality.•The manufacturer-direct contract achieves the highest quality and profit among the three.
In the past two decades, many store-brand products have been introduced by their retailers as having low-cost alternatives to existing brands. However, many store-brand products are perceived with lower quality because their manufacturers do not own the brands. In this paper, we investigate using extended warranties to coordinate the quality decisions of store-brand products. We investigate three extended warranty contracts for the amount of revenue transferred from the retailer to the manufacturer: fixed fee, proportional sharing, and manufacturer direct. Under the fixed fee structure, the transferred amount is pre-negotiated, fixed, and independent of the price of the extended warranty; under the proportional sharing structure, the transferred amount is proportional to the price of the extended warranty; under the manufacturer-direct structure, the retailer let the manufacturer decide the price and collect all the revenue of the extended warranty. Our analytical results show that all three contracts provide incentives for the manufacturer to improve the product quality. In the numerical analysis, we compare the performance of the three extended warranty contracts with the baseline case, where no extended warranty is offered. It shows that the manufacturer-direct contract achieves the highest quality improvement and the highest profit among the three contracts.
In a sample of 153 children from preschool through second grade, relations between the use of emotion regulation strategy and children's expression of anger and sadness were coded during an ...observational task in which children were intentionally disappointed in the presence of the mother. Multilevel modeling was used to examine strategy use and current and subsequent expressions of anger and sadness. Results indicate that mothers' use of attention refocusing and joint mother-child cognitive reframing lead to lower intensity of expressed anger and sadness. Younger children expressed more sadness than older children, and maternal attention refocusing was less successful among older children than younger ones. Implications of these results for assessing the socialization of emotion regulation in preschool and school-age children are discussed.
International business (IB) research has predominantly relied on value constructs to account for the influence of societal culture, notably Hofstede's cultural dimensions. While parsimonious, the ...value approach's assumptions about the consensus of values within nations, and the generality and stability of cultural patterns of behavior are increasingly challenged. We review two promising alternatives - the constructive approach centering on schemas and the intersubjectivist approach centering on norms - and the evidence that demonstrates their usefulness in accounting for international differences in the behavior of managers, employees, and consumers. We propose a situated dynamics framework, specifying the role of values, schemas, and norms in accounting for cultural differences, and delineating conditions under which each causal mechanism is operative. Values play a more important role in accounting for cultural differences in weak situations where fewer constraints are perceived; schemas play a more important role when situational cues increase their accessibility and relevance; and norms play a more important role when social evaluation is salient. Directions for future research based on this integrative framework and its implications for the measurement of culture and application in IB are discussed.
Prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) is of considerable interest as a target for diagnostics and therapy of prostate cancer patients. PSMA-targeted imaging has demonstrable value in guiding the ...management of the clinical evolution of prostatic cancer. The use of PSMA-targeted therapy using
Lu-labeled PSMA-617 is similarly effective and is progressing toward approval. The phase III VISION trial represents the largest well-designed and executed study of a theranostic pair. This article provides an overview of the phase III trial and delineates the different study arms and their implications in the assessment of efficacy. The VISION (phase III) trial will provide data of critical value to the field of theranostics and especially the field of prostatic cancer management.
Little research has examined the impacts of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems implementation on job satisfaction. Based on a 12-month study of 2,794 employees in a telecommunications firm, ...we found that ERP system implementation moderated the relationships between three job characteristics (skill variety, autonomy, and feedback) and job satisfaction. Our findings highlight the key role that ERP system implementation can have in altering well-established relationships in the context of technology-enabled organizational change situations. This work also extends research on technology diffusion by moving beyond a focus on technology-centric outcomes, such as system use, to understanding broader job outcomes.
Studies examining the relationship between national culture and entrepreneurial activity have largely ignored the influence of culture on individual decisionmaking. Recent years have witnessed ...considerable interest in cognitive logics employed by entrepreneurs. A growing body of literature examines factors contributing to the relative reliance on causal and effectual reasoning as entrepreneurs attempt to launch and grow new ventures, with evidence suggesting expert entrepreneurs engage more heavily in effectual reasoning than do novice entrepreneurs. The present study examines the mediating role of cognitive logic in explaining venture performance in differing cultural contexts. A series of hypotheses are tested using a sample of 3411 new ventures started by student entrepreneurs from 24 countries based on the Global University Entrepreneurial Spirit Students' Survey. The findings indicate that both venture cognitive logics have positive effects on new venture performance and serve as mediators in the culture-performance relationship. Based on these findings, we conclude entrepreneurial reasoning is shaped not only by personal characteristics of entrepreneurs but also by aspects of the cultural context.
Polycultural Psychology Morris, Michael W; Chiu, Chi-yue; Liu, Zhi
Annual review of psychology,
2015-Jan-03, Letnik:
66, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
We review limitations of the traditional paradigm for cultural research and propose an alternative framework, polyculturalism. Polyculturalism assumes that individuals' relationships to cultures are ...not categorical but rather are partial and plural; it also assumes that cultural traditions are not independent, sui generis lineages but rather are interacting systems. Individuals take influences from multiple cultures and thereby become conduits through which cultures can affect each other. Past literatures on the influence of multiple cultural identities and cultural knowledge legacies can be better understood within a polyculturalist rubric. Likewise, the concept elucidates how cultures are changed by contact with other cultures, enabling richer psychological theories of intercultural influence. Different scientific paradigms about culture imply different ideologies and policies; polyculturalism's implied policy of interculturalism provides a valuable complement to the traditional policy frames of multiculturalism and colorblindness.
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•Introduction covers criteria of nanomanufacturing and concepts of block copolymers in thin film and solution state.•Next, state-of-the-art in block copolymer thin film and solution ...processing is described.•Overview of key contribution of block copolymers in energy, environmental, photonic, and biological applications.•Outlook for impact and influence of block copolymers in nanomanufacturing including areas such as catalysis, membranes, metasurfaces and drug delivery nanodevices.
Self-assembly approaches, e.g. colloidal, emulsion and polymer phase separation, provide scientists with an exotic yet direct platform to access technologically desired nanostructures at competitive costs. In particular, soft nanomaterial systems such as block copolymer (BCP) materials present a powerful means to tailor templates and spatially controlled systems that are amenable to large scale manufacturing practices. BCP nanoarchitectures in bulk, solution and thin film form can act as structural motifs to template foreign materials and pave the way towards important applications across industry and society. While extensive literature and research efforts exist on electronic device uses using BCPs, we look at nascent applications outside the integrated circuit realm. Recent reports are discussed including for example; light-harvesting (energy – section 2), metasurfaces (photonics – section 3), nanofiltration membranes (environmental – section 4) and antibacterial activity (biological – section 5). We endeavour to illustrate the window of opportunity presented through BCP self-assembly for nanomanufacturing. We believe the highlights discussed will aid in directing new research initiatives and facilitate the large-scale integration of BCP materials with broad societal impact.
Vocational interests predict educational and career choices, job performance, and career success (Rounds & Su, 2014). Although sex differences in vocational interests have long been observed ...(Thorndike, 1911), an appropriate overall measure has been lacking from the literature. Using a cross-sectional sample of United States residents aged 14 to 63 who completed the Strong Interest Inventory assessment between 2005 and 2014 (N = 1,283,110), I examined sex, age, ethnicity, and year effects on work related interest levels using both multivariate and univariate effect size estimates of individual dimensions (Holland's Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional). Men scored higher on Realistic (d = −1.14), Investigative (d = −.32), Enterprising (d = −.22), and Conventional (d = −.23), while women scored higher on Artistic (d = .19) and Social (d = .38), mostly replicating previous univariate findings. Multivariate, overall sex differences were very large (disattenuated Mahalanobis' D = 1.61; 27% overlap). Interest levels were slightly lower and overall sex differences larger in younger samples. Overall sex differences have narrowed slightly for 18-22 year-olds in more recent samples. Generally very small ethnicity effects included relatively higher Investigative and Enterprising scores for Asians, Indians, and Middle Easterners, lower Realistic scores for Blacks and Native Americans, higher Realistic, Artistic, and Social scores for Pacific Islanders, and lower Conventional scores for Whites. Using Prediger's (1982) model, women were more interested in people (d = 1.01) and ideas (d = .18), while men were more interested in things and data. These results, consistent with previous reviews showing large sex differences and small year effects, suggest that large sex differences in work related interests will continue to be observed for decades.
Public Significance Statement
This study of a large, diverse sample of United States residents found that there were large sex differences in work-related interests for all age groups and all ethnicities, and that these differences are likely to persist. Because interests predict major and occupational choices, among other important outcomes, these findings suggest that men and women will continue to experience differing educational and career outcomes.
Block copolymers (BCPs) and their directed self‐assembly (DSA) has emerged as a realizable complementary tool to aid optical patterning of device elements for future integrated circuit advancements. ...Methods to enhance BCP etch contrast for DSA application and further potential applications of inorganic nanomaterial features (e.g., semiconductor, dielectric, metal and metal oxide) are examined. Strategies to modify, infiltrate and controllably deposit inorganic materials by utilizing neat self‐assembled BCP thin films open a rich design space to fabricate functional features in the nanoscale regime. An understanding and overview on innovative ways for the selective inclusion/infiltration or deposition of inorganic moieties in microphase separated BCP nanopatterns is provided. Early initial inclusion methods in the field and exciting contemporary reports to further augment etch contrast in BCPs for pattern transfer application are described. Specifically, the use of evaporation and sputtering methods, atomic layer deposition, sequential infiltration synthesis, metal‐salt inclusion and aqueous metal reduction methodologies forming isolated nanofeatures are highlighted in di‐BCP systems. Functionalities and newly reported uses for electronic and non‐electronic technologies based on the inherent properties of incorporated inorganic nanostructures using di‐BCP templates are highlighted. We outline the potential for extension of incorporation methods to triblock copolymer features for more diverse applications. Challenges and emerging areas of interest for inorganic infiltration of BCPs are also discussed.
Innovative strategies for the inorganic infiltration of “neat” block copolymer thin films for functional application are highlighted. A range of diverse routes for precisely incorporating inorganic material in self‐assembled block copolymer patterns are detailed. Both electronic and non‐electronic applications based on the incorporated inorganic features are discussed.
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