Bern's positioning strategies: Escaping the fate of a secondary capital city?

Bern is a classic example of a so-called secondary capital city, which is defined as a capital city that is not the primary economic center of its nation. Such capital cities feature a specific political economy characterized by a strong government presence in its regional economy and its local governance arrangements. Bern has been losing importance in the Swiss urban system over the past decades due to a stagnating economy, population decline and missed opportunities for regional cooperation. To re-position itself in the Swiss urban hierarchy, political leaders and policymakers established a non-profit organization called “Capital Region Switzerland” in 2010 arguing that a capital city should not be measured by economic success only, but by its function as a political center where political decisions are negotiated and implemented. This city profile analyses Bern's strategy and discusses its ambitions and limitations in the context of the city's history, socio-economic and political conditions. We conclude that Bern's positioning strategy has so far been a political success, yet that there are severe limitations regarding advancing economic development. As a result, this re-positioning strategy is not able to address the fundamental economic development challenges that Bern faces as a secondary capital city.

Effectively positioning water loss event in smart water networks

With the eye-catching advances in sensing technologies, smart water networks have been attracting immense research interest in recent years. One of the most overarching tasks in smart water network management is the reduction of water loss (such as leaks and bursts in a pipe network). In this paper, we propose an efficient scheme to position water loss event based on water network topology. The state-of-the-art approach to this problem, however, utilizes the limited topology information of the water network, that is, only one single shortest path between two sensor locations. Consequently, the accuracy of positioning water loss events is still less desirable. To resolve this problem, our scheme consists of two key ingredients: First, we design a novel graph topology-based measure, which can recursively quantify the "average distances" for all pairs of senor locations simultaneously in a water network. This measure will substantially improve the accuracy of our positioning strategy, by capturing the entire water network topology information between every two sensor locations, yet without any sacrifice of computational efficiency. Then, we devise an efficient search algorithm that combines the "average distances" with the difference in the arrival times of the pressure variations detected at sensor locations. The viable experimental evaluations on real-world test bed (WaterWiSe@SG) demonstrate that our proposed positioning scheme can identify water loss event more accurately than the best-known competitor.

精密复杂曲面重构与多轴数控加工刀位规划策略

数控加工作为现代制造中的标志性加工技术，在航空航天、运载工具、动力装备等领域的精密复杂型面加工中占据着主导地位。随着国内高速数控加工中心及高档数控机床等硬件设备的日趋成熟和普及，围绕高速数控加工的一些深层次问题便逐步显现出来，这突出表现在数控机床的高速加工特性与传统加工方法之间的矛盾。本文将主要围绕复杂型面高速数控加工中的两大关键技术：曲面造型技术与刀位规划策略，展开论述，着重解决其中的一些关键科学问题，以期为复杂型面的高速数控加工提供新的技术支持。 1. 以罐车曲面重构为例，详细论述了从不完整散乱数据到曲面精确重构的整个过程，着重解决了自由曲面重构理论在实际应用中遇到的一些问题。针对不完整散乱数据，提出一种散乱数据的有序化处理方法，同时给出了面向NURBS的数据自动参数化策略，用于构造罐车的系列截面轮廓线。然后以曲面蒙皮操作为基础实现罐车曲面的快速重构。最后利用参数曲面的离散表达，完成罐车容积的快速检定并借以验证罐车曲面重建的精确性。 2. 以Bézier曲线/曲面为基础，运用多元Bernstein多项式算术运算，将点到复杂曲线/曲面最近点的计算转化为Bernstein多项式方程的求解，进而基于Bernstein基函数的线性精度性质，给出一种新的最近点计算模型。然后通过de Casteljau快速分割算法和二叉/四叉树递归分解的搜索策略寻找最近点。该方法可以有效避免繁琐的迭代计算和对初始值的选择，并从计算效率入手，对其加以改进，成功实现了分割算法与Newton-Raphson方法的融合。再利用B样条曲线/曲面与Bézier曲线/曲面之间成熟的转换算法，将所提出的方法进一步推广到应用更为广泛的B样条曲线/曲面。 3. 通过对刀具轨迹有效性的分析，将刀具轨迹规划分为曲面上曲线族的选择和有效合理排布方式的设计两个方面，为刀具轨迹规划提供了新的设计思路。并以此为基础，对最优刀具轨迹的定义进行了重新阐述，指出今后刀具轨迹规划的研究必须综合考虑轨迹的几何、刀具的运动以及机床的动力学特性。 4. 针对数控加工中心高速加工特性，提出一种等参数螺旋轨迹生成方法。该方法以减少抬刀和路径转接为目的，并综合考虑刀具轨迹几何与运动力学性能，特别适合自由曲面的高速数控加工。同时，在刀具路径的链接、误差分析等方面，也提出了一些颇具特色的方法，从而避免了传统偏置轨迹繁琐的自交干涉检测，能够有效抑制刀具负载的波动，减小刀具的磨损。 5. 在正确重建网格模型拓扑关系的基础上，从离散微分几何学这一新的角度入手，给出了一种新的三角网格曲面微分几何特性分析方法，进而以参数曲面上曲线偏置方法为基础，结合三角网格曲面的拓扑结构和局部区域的精确拟合，建立了网格曲面上的曲线偏置模型，并将计算最近点的方法进一步推广用来计算曲面上的偏置点，从而避免了繁琐的迭代计算。以此为基础，对网格模型的边界轮廓进行等残留偏置，给出了网格曲面上的等残留刀具轨迹生成方法。可进一步利用螺旋线连接各条轨迹，生成更为光滑刀具路径。

Management consulting labs- Portugal Telecom

The purpose of this work project was to analyze and evaluate the potential impact of a technological innovation in the telecommunications sector, across a wide range of business areas. A cost-benefit and competitive analysis for each pre-selected business area was conducted, as well as national and international benchmarks. As a result of the analysis, a list of prioritized business areas, presenting more immediate opportunities for Portugal Telecom, was created and implications for go-to-market strategies were inferred from the conclusions reached. In addition, a final recommendation that redefined the company’s positioning strategy was made

The hospitality industry

This study of independent Portuguese hotels‘ positioning strategies regarding adopting, or not, a soft brand affiliation seeks to determine what motivates this choice. Surveyed hotels were asked to enunciate the benefits and disadvantages associated with their strategic decision, and other difficulties experienced in their business. The results indicate that international brand awareness and the hotel owners‘ long-term goals are the core factors affecting the choice. In practice, we conclude that there isn‘t a ‗one size fits all‘ strategy. Nevertheless, affiliated hotels experience an operational advantage over non-affiliated ones stemming from the affiliating organization‘s accumulated experience in sales, distribution channels and marketing resources.

A Construction Management Framework for Mass Customisation in Traditional Construction

A Mass Customisation model is discussed as a competitive positioning strategy in the marketplace adding value to the customer’s end-use. It includes the user as part of the construction process responding to the customer’s demands and wishes. To the present day, almost all proposals for Mass Customisation have been focused on the design phase and single family houses. The reality is that the processes carried out in the work execution are so inefficient that the costs of the Mass Customisation models are assumed by the customer and they do not offer solutions that support the change management. Furthermore, this inefficiency often makes Mass Customisation unfeasible in terms of deadlines and site management. Therefore, the present proposal focuses on achieving the paradigm of Mass Customisation in the traditional residential construction complementary to the existing proposals in the design phase. All this through the proposal of a framework for the integral management in the work execution, which will address change management introduced by the users offering an efficient and productive model that reduces costs in the process. This model will focus on the synergy between different strategies, techniques and technologies currently used in the construction management (such as Lean Construction or Six Sigma), together with, other strategies and technologies that have proven to be valid solutions in other fields (such as Business Process Management, Service Oriented Architecture, etc.).

Mercadeo digital viajes Agentur

La empresa Agentur es una agencia de viajes con más de 60 años de experiencia que recientemente ha incursionado en las ventas on-line por medio de un portal web. Actualmente, la empresa no cuenta con un plan de mercadeo que le permita aumentar exponencialmente las ventas por este canal, por lo que el desempeño de este no ha sido el esperado. Debido a este problema es de suma importancia determinar ¿Cuáles son las estrategias de posicionamiento y mercadeo on-line que debe usar la empresa para aumentar las ventas por su portal web? Para realizar este plan de mercadeo, se utilizó la segmentación propuesta por la empresa AMADEUS, llamada “FUTURE TRAVELLER TRIBES 2030 UNDERSTANDING TOMORROW’S TRAVELLER” en las que se explora los diferentes tipos de personas que viajaran en el futuro dependiendo de sus hábitos de compra, personalidad y necesidades específicas.. A partir de esta segmentación, se escogieron los segmentos que más se ajustan a lo que ofrece la página web de Agentur, y se diseñó una estrategia de posicionamiento que le permitirá a la empresa llegar a sus consumidores potenciales y aumentar las ventas de su portal. Se realizó una investigación de cuáles eran las mejores estrategias de publicidad y mercadeo que se tenían que utilizar para llegar a cada segmento de forma individual además del costo que tendría esta estrategia, y de esta forma lograr el volumen de ventas que desea alcanzar la empresa con este portal.

Product?market positioning and prospector strategy : An analysis of strategic patterns from the resource?based perspective

Morgan, R.; Strong, C.; and McGuinness, T. (2003). Product-market positioning and prospector strategy: An analysis of strategic patterns from the resource-based perspective. European Journal of Marketing. 37(10), pp.1409-1439 RAE2008

Marketing strategy and competitive positioning

Marketing Strategy and Competitive Positioning deals with the process of developing and implementing a marketing strategy. The third edition focuses on competitive positioning at the heart of marketing strategy and includes in-depth discussion of the processes used in marketing to achieve competitive advantage.

Marketing strategy and competitive positioning

Marketing Strategy and Competitive Positioning 5e deals with the process of developing and implementing a marketing strategy. The book focuses on competitive positioning at the heart of marketing strategy and includes in-depth discussion of the processes used in marketing to achieve competitive advantage. The book is primarily about creating and sustaining superior performance in the marketplace. It focuses on the two central issues in marketing strategy formulation – the identification of target markets and the creation of a differential advantage. In doing that, it recognises the emergence of new potential target markets born of the recession and increased concern for climate change; and it examines ways in which firms can differentiate their offerings through the recognition of environmental and social concerns.

Positioning the Arts in the Australian National Curriculum

In 2008 the Australian Government embarked on the development of a National Curriculum. To date, announcements about development of learning areas in Phase 1 (English, mathematics, science and history) and Phase 2 (geography and languages) have been released. But where are the arts positioned? This article traces the advocacy strategy employed by Drama Australia and the National Advocates for Arts Education (NAAE) in the fight for the arts to be included in National Curriculum Board (NCB) timeline for development, trial and implementation.