Kustannusrakenteen simulointi ja optimointi

Primääripakatun tuotteen liiketoiminnallisen arvoketjun kustannusrakenteen tunnistaminen tuo merkittävää lisäarvoa pakkausliiketoiminnan suunnittelua koskevaan päätöksentekoon. Tämän konstruktiivisen tutkimuksen tavoitteena on rakentaa pakkaustuotannon liiketoiminnallisen arvoketjun simulointimalli, jonka avulla voidaan analysoida pakkaustuotannon arvoketjun kustannusrakennetta lähtien pakkausraaka-aineen valmistuksesta ja päättyen kaupan vähittäismyyntiin. Käytettävä tutkimusaineisto koostuu jonoteoriaan ja tuotannonsuunnitteluun liittyvästä kirjallisuudesta, tieteellisistä artikkeleista sekä asiantuntijalausunnoista. Tutkimuksen yhteydessä rakennetun simulointimallin avulla määritettiin erään primääripakatun tuotteen konvertointivaiheen optimaalinen valmistuseräkoko ja liiketoiminnallisen arvoketjun kustannusrakenne. Arvoketjuanalyysissä primääripakatun tuotteen kustannustekijöiksi määritettiin pakkausmateriaali, pakkausvalmistus, pakattava tuote, pakkauksen täyttö ja suljenta sekä pakatun tuotteen jakelulogistiikka ja vähittäismyynti. Arvoketjuanalyysin johtopäätöksenä voidaan todeta, että primääripakatulle esimerkkituotteelle kohdistuvista kustannuksista noin 97 % on brand ownerin ja vähittäismyynnin aiheuttamia ja noin 3 % varsinaisesta tuotteen pakkaamisesta aiheutuvia.

Priorization of Customer Needs for Paperboard Trays

The objectives of the study were to introduce current issues of chilled and frozen food packaging, priorize certain customer needs and review brand owners’ opinions and ways of actions. Packaging industry and packaged food markets were reviewed. Interviews of food industry brand owners are used as data sources. Analytic hierarchy process was used to prioritize the customer needs. Food packaging, special features of ready meals, chilled and frozen food packaging, packaging industry and packaged food markets in Europe are approached using literature and market reviews and forecasts. In empirical part the customer needs of paperboard trays are prioritized. The most important features for brand owners are related in product safety and environmental issues. Paperboard trays have benefits compared to its competing packaging solutions. Paperboard is recyclable, from renewable source and it has good printability. Emerging issues of packaging technology are biodegradable package, elderly friendly features such as easiness of opening and re-closing possibility, brand protection and tamper evident solutions.

La escultura de las villae de la zona del noreste hispánico: los ejemplos de Tarragona y Tossa

Se presenta en primer lugar un estudio de las esculturas procedentes del ager Tarraconensis que incluye también los nuevos descubrimientos. Se da a conocer un conjunto recuperado recientemente en la villa de Els Ametllers (Tossa de Mar, Gerona). En cuanto a la plástica del entorno de Tarraco, se ha podido constatar que existen dos grupos claramente diferenciados. Uno de ellos está constituido por hallazgos poco numerosos o aislados, las piezas son de dimensiones menores que el natural y, salvo algunas excepciones, de factura modesta y de temática relacionada con el entorno dionisiaco. El otro, que se corresponde con el importante conjunto de estatuas procedente de la villa de Els Munts, se caracteriza por las grandes dimensiones y por la buena calidad estilística de algunas de ellas, así como por la variedad de los tipos escultóricos representados. El conjunto de la villa de Els Ametllers da testimonio de su riqueza con una decoración escultórica más que notable en el siglo i d. de C. realizada en mármoles de gran calidad. En general, las esculturas de las villae de la zona del noreste hispánico nos dejan constancia del alto nivel social y del poder económico de los dueños de las mansiones y al mismo tiempo nos indican el lujo del que se querían y podían rodear las clases privilegiadas.

Palvelun laadun rooli brandistrategian kehittämisessä

Tutkimuksen päätavoitteena on selvittää palvelun laadun rooli brandistrategian kehittämisessä. Tutkimuksen tekeminen nähtiin tarpeelliseksi, sillä palvelun laadun roolia brandistrategian kehittämisessä ei ole aiemmin paljolti tutkittu. Normatiivisella case-tutkimuksella pyritään löytämään konkreettisia brandistrategian kehittämiskohteita case-yritykselle niin strategisella kuin myös operationaalisella tasolla. Case-yrityksen toimiala ja tilanne huomioiden normatiiviselle case-tutkimukselle luodaan perusta tutkimuksen teoreettisessa osassa sovellettavilla teoreettisilla näkemyksillä ja malleilla. Tutkimusta käsitellään sekä kvalitatiivisten että kvantitatiivisten tutkimusmenetelmien keinoin. Tutkimuksen empiirinen osio perustuu yrityksen henkilökunnan haastatteluihin, tutkijan havainnointiin sekä case—yrityksen asiakkaille suoritettavaan asiakastutkimukseen. Tutkimus osoittaa, että palvelun laadun rooli on merkittävässä asemassa palveluyritysten brandistrategian kehittämisessä ja on samalla tärkein yksittäinen asiakastyytyväisyyteen vaikuttava tekijä. Tutkimus tuo esille konkreettisia toimenpide-ehdotuksia, jotka auttavat case-yritystä kehittämään brandistrategiaansa ja auttaa siten yritystä saavuttamaan kilpailuetua muuttuvassa toimintaympäristössä.

Kuluttajien suhtautuminen aikakauslehden brändiin ja brändin persoonallisuuteen

Pro gradun tarkoituksena oli tutkia kuluttajien suhtautumista kolmen kuluttajille suunnatun aikakauslehden brändiin ja brändin persoonallisuuteen. Tutkimuksen kohteena olevat aikakauslehdet olivat naisille suunnattu, nuorille suunnattu sekä tekniikkaan keskittynyt aikakauslehti. Tässä tutkimuksessa käytettiin kvalitatiivista tutkimusmenetelmää. Sisällön erittelyn avulla tutkittiin eroja kuluttajien suhtautumisessa eri aikakauslehtibrändien ollessa kyseessä. Kuluttajien mielipiteitä aikakauslehtibrändin persoonallisuudesta selvitettiin aikakauslehtien verkkosivuilla olleen kyselytutkimuksen avulla, jonka tuloksia analysoitiin korrespondenssianalyysissä. Korrespondenssianalyysissä kvantifioitiin kvalitatiivista aineistoa. Aikakauslehtikustantajien mielipiteitä aikakauslehden brändistä tutkittiin aikakauslehtien verkkosivujen sisällön kautta. Kuluttajat näkivät aikakausilehtien brändeissä eri persoonallisuuksien piirteitä. Syyt kuluttajien suhtautumisessa eri aikakauslehtibrändeihin johtuvat pikemminkin eri kohderyhmistä kuin kustantajan rakentamista eroista. Kustantajien ja kuluttajien mielipiteet brändin persoonallisuudesta olivat naisille suunnatussa lehdessä hyvin yhtenevät, kun taas tekniikkaan suuntautunut lehti kärsi epäselvästä brändistä.

Vertical relations and local competition : an empirical approach

The analysis of vertical industry relations forms an essential element in the field of industrial organization. This paper tests hypotheses derived from transaction cost theory and the principal-agent problem in Chile’s petrol market. It shows that local competition plays an important role in the choice of a disintegrated vertical structure, and that low levels of service investment have the same effect. Conversely, the number of own-brand outlets and a high level of investment in services reduce the probability of disintegration. The paper demonstrates that vertical disintegration has a null effect on wholesale petrol prices and a positive effect on retail petrol prices of between 1.6 and 7 per cent, depending on fuel type.

Price rivalry in airline markets: A study of a successful strategy of a network carrier against a low-cost carrier

Competition in airline markets may be tough. In this context, network carriers have two alternative strategies to compete with low-cost carriers. First, they may establish a low-cost subsidiary. Second, they may try to reduce costs using the main brand. This paper examines a successful strategy of the first type implemented by Iberia in the Spanish domestic market. Our analysis of data and the estimation of a pricing equation show that Iberia has been able to charge lower prices than rivals with its low-cost subsidiary. The pricing policy of the Spanish network carrier has been particularly aggressive in less dense routes and shorter routes.

La cultura marittima nei progetti di rigenarazione urbana del porto vecchio, Barcellona

Port cities have represented one of the first forms of urbanization in which maritime culture has had an important role in the construction of the city. This culture has often been the foundation of an evolving tendency confronted with other lines of development, against which it has alternately integrated itself creatively, or has had to compete. The study of the multiplicity of these evolving processes, with their corresponding conflicts, can be useful to develop a critical vision of the grand transformations of industrial ports in urban areas and to initiate a critical reflection which would help to interpret current tendencies. The Barcelona case seems to be exemplary because the new projects for the transformation of the old port, focused on providing a service for luxury boats, have reopened a discussion on urban transformation works carried out in the past and have mostly revealed that the relationship between the port and the city is in constant evolution.For this reason there is a discussion about the extent to which large scale port transformations can have repercussions on maritime culture in a locality and what the role of maritime culture is with respect to fundamental economic strategies linked mostly to the construction of the post-Fordist city

Del Estado-nación al Estado-marca. El rol de la diplomacia pública y la marca de país en el nuevo escenario de las relaciones internacionales

El establecimiento de relaciones entre países en un entorno global parece requerir nuevas estrategias que trascienden la tradicional diplomacia de Estado. La diplomacia pública deviene una renovada estrategia de proyección internacional, donde la marca de país ejerce un importante papel a modo de dispositivo aglutinador y de transmisión de identidades nacionales. De este modo, el nuevo “poder blando” de la representación geográfica parece transcurrir en el seno del debilitamiento del Estado-nación y en claro beneficio de una nueva forma de comunicar la identidad de un país más próxima a la intervención de diferentes agentes sociales que a la firma de tratados internacionales de competencia gubernamental. A partir de una revisión de la literatura existente, este artículo presenta un estado del arte relacionado con las nuevas estrategias de representatividad internacional llevadas a cabo por países y naciones.

Simple Heuristics in a Social Game

Simple Heuristics in a Social World invites readers to discover the simple heuristics that people use to navigate the complexities and surprises of environments populated with others. The social world is a terrain where humans and other animals compete with conspecifics for myriad resources, including food, mates, and status, and where rivals grant the decision maker little time for deep thought, protracted information search, or complex calculations. Yet, the social world also encompasses domains where social animals such as humans can learn from one another and can forge alliances with one another to boost their chances of success. According to the book's thesis, the undeniable complexity of the social world does not dictate cognitive complexity as many scholars of rationality argue. Rather, it entails circumstances that render optimization impossible or computationally arduous: intractability, the existence of incommensurable considerations, and competing goals. With optimization beyond reach, less can be more. That is, heuristics--simple strategies for making decisions when time is pressing and careful deliberation an unaffordable luxury--become indispensible mental tools. As accurate as or even more accurate than complex methods when used in the appropriate social environments, these heuristics are good descriptive models of how people make many decisions and inferences, but their impressive performance also poses a normative challenge for optimization models. In short, the Homo socialis may prove to be a Homo heuristicus whose intelligence reflects ecological rather than logical rationality.

La construcción de la marca ‘Qatar’ a partir del deporte: ‘sports place branding’ y prensa deportiva catalana

Los grandes eventos deportivos se han utilizado con fines promocionales para los territorios desde el siglo XIX. En este sentido, la Copa del Mundo de la FIFA de 2022, que se celebrará en Qatar, deviene una excusa ideal para el gobierno de la nación para legitimar su posicionamiento internacional, así como para participar activamente en el negocio mundial del fútbol. Además, desde 2011, Qatar Foundation (QF) ejecuta un acuerdo de patrocinio con el FC Barcelona, último campeón de la UEFA Champions League (ECL) y del Mundial de Clubes de la FIFA (2011), que le permitirá desarrollar proyectos sociales vinculados a la marca Barça en todo el mundo. Este artículo tiene el objetivo de analizar el posicionamiento internacional de Qatar, canalizado mediante un proceso de construcción de marca protagonizado por el deporte y proyectado a través de los medios de comunicación qataríes (AlJazzera) y los propios de los territorios donde el gobierno qatarí invierte, como es el caso de Cataluña.

Cost-effectiveness of Tenofovir / Emtricitabine / Efavirenz versus Zidovudine / Lamivudine / Efavirenz as fist-line regimens for the treatment of HIV-infected patients in low-income settings

The Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) is the combination of at least three antiretroviral compounds. The combination purpose is to reduce the likelihood of drug resistance. However in the long-term the resistance to the first-line combination occurs and leads to treatment failure. Thus, a second-line and even a third-line regimen are recommended in the long run. [...] [P. 5] The two treatment alternatives under comparison: Tenofovir (300 mg) CO-formulated with Emtricitabine (200 mg) and Efavirenz (600 mg) currently known under the brand name Atripla (R) was introduced in July 2006 in the United States market. The excellent safety profile and ease of use make this combination a perfect first-line regimen in low-income settings. Therefore, this treatment option was recommended in WHO 2006 reviewed guidelines. Unfortunately, Tenofovir and Emtricitabine compounds are still costly and not yet widely available. For a matter of simplification this regimen is referred in this report as "the recent" therapy. Initially, we had in mind to consider the most frequently used first-line regimen in low-income countries (Stavudine / Larnivudme / Nevirapine) as a comparator for this economic evaluation. Unfortunately, according to the literature review results (see Annex 3); there was no data available comparing head to head the effectiveness of this regimen with the recent one. Instead, we selected a less frequently but commonly used first-line regimen in low-income countries as a comparator: Zidovudine, Lamivudine, Efavirenz. This combination has extensive experience in durability, safety and toxicity and seems to be an optimal choice for a first-line regimen according to the clinical trial group 384 team. Furthermore, Zidovudine, one of the compounds of this combination is now recommended as one of the preferred NNRTI [Non Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors] options to be considered by countries instead of Stavudine (the most used NNRTI in limited-income countries). As this combination has been included in the WHO guidelines as a first-line therapy since 2003 when WHO launched the "3 by 5" scaling-up initiative, this combination of drugs is referred in this report as the "old" therapy. Objectives: The primary objective of this economic evaluation is to compare the two first-line HAARTs introduced above, in a low-income setting context. Both of these combinations are recommended by the 2006 WHO guidelines as potential first-line regimens. The secondary objective is to provide a simplified and comprehensible cost-effectiveness modeling tool in order to help policy makers, in resource-limited settings, make decisions about which first-line HAART to fund using the scarce resources available. [P. 6-7]

The Proteolytic Activation of (H3N2) Influenza A Virus Hemagglutinin Is Facilitated by Different Type II Transmembrane Serine Proteases.

UNLABELLED: Cleavage of influenza virus hemagglutinin (HA) by host cell proteases is necessary for viral activation and infectivity. In humans and mice, members of the type II transmembrane protease family (TTSP), e.g., TMPRSS2, TMPRSS4, and TMPRSS11d (HAT), have been shown to cleave influenza virus HA for viral activation and infectivityin vitro Recently, we reported that inactivation of a single HA-activating protease gene,Tmprss2, in knockout mice inhibits the spread of H1N1 influenza viruses. However, after infection ofTmprss2knockout mice with an H3N2 influenza virus, only a slight increase in survival was observed, and mice still lost body weight. In this study, we investigated an additional trypsin-like protease, TMPRSS4. Both TMPRSS2 and TMPRSS4 are expressed in the same cell types of the mouse lung. Deletion ofTmprss4alone in knockout mice does not protect them from body weight loss and death upon infection with H3N2 influenza virus. In contrast,Tmprss2(-/-)Tmprss4(-/-)double-knockout mice showed a remarkably reduced virus spread and lung pathology, in addition to reduced body weight loss and mortality. Thus, our results identified TMPRSS4 as a second host cell protease that, in addition to TMPRSS2, is able to activate the HA of H3N2 influenza virusin vivo IMPORTANCE: Influenza epidemics and recurring pandemics are responsible for significant global morbidity and mortality. Due to high variability of the virus genome, resistance to available antiviral drugs is frequently observed, and new targets for treatment of influenza are needed. Host cell factors essential for processing of the virus hemagglutinin represent very suitable drug targets because the virus is dependent on these host factors for replication. We reported previously thatTmprss2-deficient mice are protected against H1N1 virus infections, but only marginal protection against H3N2 virus infections was observed. Here we show that deletion of two host protease genes,Tmprss2andTmprss4, strongly reduced viral spread as well as lung pathology and resulted in increased survival after H3N2 virus infection. Thus, TMPRSS4 represents another host cell factor that is involved in cleavage activation of H3N2 influenza virusesin vivo.

Heterogeneous products and tests for an appropriate aggregation level considering different qualities: evidence from fresh hake at Barcelona’s wholesale market

[cat] Aquest estudi destaca la importància de considerar un nivell d’agregació adequat en els anàlisis de demanda, ja que treballar utilitzant un nivell d’agregació inadequat pot donar lloc a estimacions esbiaixades. Aquest fet es mostra a través de l’anàlisi de diferents productes de lluç fresc comercialitzats a Mercabarna, el mercat majorista de Barcelona. La literatura sobre la demanda de peix tracta al lluç com un únic producte i espècie. No obstant això, en el mercat espanyol, es comercialitzen molts peixos com a lluç, els quals mostren comportaments molt diferents (des de béns inferiors fins a béns de luxe). Els resultats obtinguts, en concordança amb les observacions empíriques, demostren que l’anàlisi s’ha de realitzar amb un major grau de detall que a nivell d’espècie. Això qüestiona els resultats d’anteriors estudis de demanda i la majoria de les bases de dades, on l’observació del nivell d’agregació adequat dels productes no es té en compte.