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The study aims to test the relationship and impact between the counterfeit products via the Internet and behavior of the Iraqi consumer, as the Iraqi market suffers from the spread and increase of counterfeit products. The study is different in that it dealt with the aspect of trading counterfeit products via the Internet and during the period of the Covid-19 pandemic, which witnessed an increase in the demand for purchasing products via the Internet during the period of the pandemic. The study was based on the electronic questionnaire as a data collection tool. The data of (469) individuals were randomly selected from users of consumer goods (electrical appliances) in the Iraqi environment. The data collection period lasted from 11-12-2021 until 1-2-2022. The analytical approach was adopted. Descriptive In analyzing the answers of the sample, the results of the research showed that the Internet and social networking sites have contributed to the spread of counterfeit products during the pandemic period. The study also showed that the behavior of the Iraqi consumer towards these products is viewed as a suitable, low-cost alternative ready to buy them as long as they serve the required purpose and do not cause harm. What has helped the spread of counterfeit products in the Iraqi market is the weakness of government control, and websites and social networks have contributed to its expansion, especially during the period of the Covid-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A non-linear integer programming formulation is developed to solve a production scheduling problem at an industrial consumer goods producer. Its production runs are assigned to pre-set time slots economically sized for long setups and changeovers. The mathematical model applies to a mix of backlogged, or not, sales orders involving multi-product, multi-stage production with finite capacity, material, and storage constraints. It aims at maximizing various strategic objectives (direct margin, resource utilization, and customer service) over rolling workday horizons. Real-life scheduling problems are solved to illustrate the efficiency and applicability of the proposed optimization framework. The results indicate that minimizing stockouts over a 40-workday period during peak season leads to absolute two-digit service level improvements compared to man-made schedules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Africa Spectrum is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Alloying seriously deteriorates the thermal conductivity of magnesium (Mg) alloys, thus, restricts their applications in the fields of computer, communication, and consumer products. In order to improve the thermal conductivity of Mg alloys, adding carbon nanotube (CNT) combined with aging treatment is proposed in this work, i.e. fabricating the D-CNT (a kind of dispersed CNT) reinforced ZK61 matrix composite via powder metallurgy, and conducting aging treatment to the composite. Results indicate the as-aged ZK61/0.6 wt.% D-CNT composite achieved an excellent thermal conductivity of 166 W/(mK), exhibiting 52.3% enhancement in comparison with matrix, as well as tensile yield strength of 321 MPa, ultimate tensile strength of 354 of MPa, and elongation of 14%. The simultaneously enhanced thermal conductivity and mechanical performance are mainly attributed to: (1) the embedded interface of the D-CNT with matrix and (2) the coherent interface of precipitates with matrix. It is expected the current work can provide a clue for devising Mg matrix composites with integrated structural and functional performances, and enlarge the current restricted applications of Mg alloys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores implementation of Data Lake for Big data analytics marked by intervention of quasi-outsourcing personnel. Though an agentic interventionist, it takes place in an active Multinational Consumer Goods company (MCGC) of socially connected environment. The study being a case study of qualitative narrative inquiry toes the perspective of structural analysis. This study finds that the implementers utilise the lived experience to jump start their cases in view of adaptability to overcome stumbling blocks that circumvent implementation of data lake. The study concludes that the implementation of the Data Lake with quasi-outsourcing personnel was a successful strategy for the MCGC (Case) inasmuch as the decision to use the internal team, despite the longer term, proved to be correct, as it resulted in financial savings. Also, the standardization and centralization of data enabled a significant reduction in operational work, freeing up time for analytical and strategic activities. Finally, this study registers the struggles for implementation of data lake that would serve accounting information systems and broader environment of data usages. The triumphs and tribulations faced during the implementation points to several implications to partitioners, academia and policy makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the conditions of widespread application of information and communication technologies, intellectual resources as a result of human intelligence, knowledge and experience are the leading source of development and growth. Intellectual capital, encompassing all the intellectual resources from which businesses derive growth in various forms, is emerging as the leading form of capital today. The aim of this publication is to assess the significance of joint impact and the extent to which elements of intellectual capital contribute to value creation and the establishment of conditions for manifestations of competitive advantages in retail trade. The study was carried out using conjoint analysis. After a brief historical overview of the development of the conjoint analysis methodology, its relationship with the hierarchical process analysis developed by Thomas Saaty is shown and a full profile conjoint analysis is conducted. The necessary data were obtained by carrying out surveys with managers from consumer goods retail chains. Based on the obtained ratings - partial, average, and overall - of the 'utility' and 'importance' categories, conclusions have been drawn regarding the joint impact and the extent to which the elements of intellectual capital contribute to value creation in retail trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In today's VUCA-defined age, accelerated by the rapid digital transformation brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, the business sector needs to be able to adapt to expected and unexpected changes. Consistently improving the product quality and managing the whole product life cycle, starting from the new product development (NPD) process, and the related data, are important aspects of keeping a company competitive in a global landscape. This paper highlights the growing potential of Industry 4.0, particularly the digital thread (DTH) and digital twin (DT), in addressing these challenges. The research revealed existing gaps in clarity and practical guidelines for digital twin prototypes (DTP) and DTH in the existing literature. Moreover, additional issues within product life cycle management (PLM) were stated, regarding frequent data loss and the complexity of product audits in the perspective of a continuous improvement. Therefore, a definition and novel framework for DTP and DTH implementation was proposed, after analyzing and comparing state of the art literature. This framework is additionally based on product audits carried out during the design stage of the product development process using requirements engineering and quality control information added within the suggested framework. Preliminary tests with DTP and DTH commercial off-the-shelves and prototype solutions were carried out with a consumer product. The tests enabled delivering a better understanding of DTPs, their potential, and their implications for decision-making and implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, studies on gender inequality have increased because of the 1995 World Conference on Women, which aimed to increase women's participation in decision-making and exercising power. This paper investigates this research question: How does participation by gender on corporate boards and in directorships impact the rest of the decision-making positions? We conducted this study to give evidence of the gender inequality that exists on boards of directors and within leadership positions in Mexico with the aim of proposing strategies to remedy this situation. The hypothesis is that if men make up the majority of corporate boards and directorships, the difficulty for women to attain these positions increases. This exploratory study originates from the 2019 report Women in the Boardroom: A Global Perspective and analyzes reports of 29 companies listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange, including financial services, media technology, telecommunications, consumer products, industry, energy, and health sectors. The results show that in the countries studied, including Mexico, the predominance of men in directorships and corporate boardrooms prevails. We highlight that in countries where women have been included in decision-making positions, the presence of women in functional directorship positions is increasingly common. Although in Mexico a movement to demand the constitutional right to equality was followed by the establishment of positive measures in favor of women, the initiative to set gender quotas as a fair practice in forming corporate boards and filling directorship positions has not taken hold. This has motivated us to argue for a norm in favor of equality in the positions of directors and board members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The success of the companies is credited to their capacity to generate change, developing or implementing new systems while it is admitted that success in the production area is based on monitoring the latest technologies and their transformation into viable products, on understanding current and future customer's needs which can be satisfied with new or improved processes and products, taking into consideration the alignment with the uniqueness of the specifications or permanent adaptation to the market conditions. Companies need a long-term vision with the purpose of covering the demand through technology and generating new needs through research and development. This paper focus is on the technology-innovation-performance triadic model which is both a novel approach and a new integrative analysis. Trying to bridge the literature gap, the article proposes a discussion exploring the possible interlinks between the three elements of the triad. The results of this endeavor are twofold encouraging: (i) by underlying the investigation the potential of the triadic model technology-innovation-performance; and (ii) by implications for business managers, in general, and (in this particular case), for managers while making strategic decisions, considering the organization level. Mattel is a leading toy manufacturer which operates on a global level but also an entertainment corporation which aims to expand the content, the consumer products and to offer unique digital experiences. The company has been founded in more than 70 years ago in the United States and is operating in 35 countries through its own stores while offering their products to the public from more than 150 countries through accredited partners or resellers. The iconic Barbie doll and the famous Hot Wheels represent two of their most valuable brands, the products under this label being a subject to constant innovations during the time and succeeding to be considered the best-selling toys of the year for two consecutive years in a row, 2020 and 2021 while also being named the top global toy property. The currents study has the purpose to analyze the connection between innovation, technology and performance by highlighting the main elements that have conducted Mattel to the astonishing success which was achieved in the last years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Weak economic conditions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but there is an important role for the capital market in supporting the country's economy. This study aims to determine the effect of ROE, EPS, DPS, and DPR on the company's market capitalization. The population used in this study are consumer goods industrial sector companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange and listed on the LQ45 Index for the 2015 - 2020 period. Purposive sampling technique is used in this study and the type of research uses the panel data regression method with the help of the Eviews 10 data processing application. The independent variables in this study are ROE, EPS, DPS, and DPR and the dependent variable is market capitalization. The results of this study partially show that ROE has an insignificant effect, EPS and DPS have no significant effect, and DPR has a significant positive effect on Market Capitalization (KP). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internet-of-Things (IoT) technology reaches far and wide in the modern world. Many consumer products are now capable of connecting to networks in order to manage and move data that is created through their various capabilities. Automobiles are now being manufactured with the ability to connect to wireless networks. This capability allows these vehicles to transmit and receive data to and from their manufacturers. IoT technology implemented in automobiles and their accompanying infrastructure is considered the Internet-of-Vehicles (IoV) technology. The goal of this paper is to better understand the association between privacy concern and IoV through a systematic literature review with suggestions for future research. Through a systematic screening process, 7 articles were identified which studied the relationship between privacy and IoV technologies. All but one article found that privacy concern or perceived risk associated with data privacy was significant in IoV technologies. These findings suggest that privacy may play an important role in users' decisions to adopt and use IoV technology. This article contributes to the growing knowledge of IoV technologies as they emerge in the automobile market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amidst the growing significance of the circular economy and the imperative to embrace this paradigm, inquiries emerge concerning the precise manifestation of this transition. This encompasses alterations in the paradigm of value creation and the introduction of innovative business models. Furthermore, consumers' active involvement in extending products lifespans and conserving resources is crucial. Recognizing the significant environmental impacts of consumption habits, embracing circular economy behaviors becomes essential for a successful transition to this sustainable economic model. Objective to examine the behavioral dimensions of the Republic of Moldova's populace in relation to consumer products across diverse life stages. Also to pinpoint the impediments and strategic compromises encountered by consumers in deliberating their participation in the circular economy and to gauge the pivotal role played by economic, social, and psychological factors in shaping consumer behavior. Method: in order to accomplish the research goal, a survey was created to evaluate the involvement of consumers in prolonging the durability of consumer goods. The questionnaire is focused on understanding consumer behaviors and attitudes towards practices, such as leasing, second-hand purchases, and reuse, which are the essential elements of a circular economy. Results: The examination and assessment of the survey responses some interesting discoveries. Although there is an inclination within the populace to utilize products for an extended duration, consumers in the Republic of Moldova typically exhibit skepticism and hesitancy towards adopting alternative practices that foster product lifespan extension and circular economy principles. Originality: This study contributes to the existing knowledge by specifically examining the behavioral aspects of the population in relation to consumer products and their engagement in the circular economy. The study offers insights into the challenges and trade-offs encountered by consumers, illuminating the significance of economic, social, and psychological factors that impact consumer behavior in the context of transitioning to a circular economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing share of e-commerce in the sale of consumer goods has prompted considerations regarding the environmental aspects of these transactions. The selection and purchase process resulting from the specificity of shopping through websites and phone applications differs significantly from the one that takes place in traditional trade. Among other things, it is worth emphasizing the limitations in becoming acquainted with the product, its packaging and accompanying information. Various efforts that have been made so far in terms of forming the principles of ecolabelling and eco-merchandising seem to be of little use in online commerce. In view of these challenges, the aim of the study was to analyze the presence of environmental product labelling systems in selected countries, focusing on how they could support the promotion of products with a reduced environmental impact through e-commerce. The research question was to determine how diverse are the environmental labelling systems that can be used in e-commerce? The online desk research method was used to achieve the aim of the study and to answer the research question. The conducted analysis has shown a particularly broad range of environmental labelling systems already present on the markets worldwide. Most ecolabels are found in the USA and Canada. The most popular groups of products that are subject to ecological certification include: food, building products and textiles. The research has revealed several ecolabelling systems that can be used in e-commerce to promote products with a reduced environmental impact. This wide range, however, may lead to blurred recognition of ecolabels in e-commerce, but on the other hand, it may also result in a better adjustment of the assessment criteria to the specificity of various consumer products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence suggests consumers actively seek environmentally-friendly products as public concern about the environment is growing worldwide. This study revisited earlier research of environmental labeling usage published over a decade ago. The current study compared environmental label usage between the original paper and post-pandemic consumer behavior. Survey results from a sample of 317 individuals indicated gender was not a predictor of label usage. The level of label usage (high versus low) was determined to be an effective predictor of environmental concern and behavior, as well as consumer involvement in environmental issues. Additionally, the current research indicated a preference by respondents for Internet news sources and social media rather than traditional news sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green consumption is not only a component but also a key to recovering the green economy. The present study developed a theoretical model to understand better the antecedents of consumers' green purchase intentions in the social network era. Based on the theory of planned behavior, this study primarily focused on the impact of green consumption characteristics represented by environmental and health factors. Additionally, the influences of word-of-mouth and social factors were also considered. Data were collected from 709 valid structured questionnaires and analyzed by partial least squares structural equation model. The results confirmed the applicability of the theory of planned behavior in predicting green purchase intention. Notably, the findings reveal that environmental concern, environmental knowledge, health status, health consciousness, self-identity, and word-of-mouth have significant direct or indirect effects on green purchase intention. In summary, this study contributes to the researcher's knowledge of green consumption, highlights the crucial role of green consumption characteristics, and provides practical policy implications for green recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consumers perform decision-making (DM) processes to select their preferred brands during their entire consumer journeys. These DM processes are based on the multiple perceptions they have about the products available in the market they are aware of. These consumers usually perform different DM strategies and employ diverse heuristics depending on the nature of the purchase, ranging from more pure optimal choices to faster decisions. Therefore, the design of realistic DM approaches for modeling these consumer behaviors requires a good representation of consumer perceptions and a reliable process for integrating their corresponding heuristics. In this work, we use fuzzy linguistic information to represent consumer perceptions and propose four consumer DM heuristics to model the qualitative linguistic information for the consumer buying decision. In particular, we use 2-tuple fuzzy linguistic variables, which is a substantially more natural and realistic representation without falling in a loss of information. The set of selected heuristics differ in the degree of involvement the consumers give to their decisions. Additionally, we propose a heuristic selection mechanism to integrate the four heuristics in a single DM procedure by using a regulation parameter. Our experimental analysis shows that the combination of these heuristics in a portfolio manner improves the performance of our model with a realistic representation of consumer perceptions. The model's outcome matches the expected behavior of the consumers in several real market scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Selcuk University Social Sciences Institute Journal is the property of Selcuk University Social Sciences Institute Journal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Club goods are a variety of public goods. They are consumed by individuals with homogeneous preferences who are voluntarily associated in clubs. Club members derive mutual benefit from the collective consumption of club goods, which improves their well-being and therefore enhances social welfare to a certain extent. The private initiative underpins the creation of the classic clubs. Later, the state adopted and implemented club decisions in order to increase the efficiency in the supply and collective consumption of certain private and divisible public goods. Examples of state-regulated clubs are maintaining cleanliness in settlements, supply and consumption of utilities, maintaining the national road network with vignettes and tolls, and others that are analyzed in the paper. The development of digital communications has led to the emergence of thousands of online club formations, including a global one. The final conclusion: with private or government initiatives club activities are expanded, and consumers of club goods grow in number, which in turn increases the level of social welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Psicologia em Estudo is the property of Universidade Estadual de Maringa and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study examines the influence of consumer goods internal determinants on dividend policy in Nigerian from 2017 to 2021. This study uses panel data regression model with pairwise testing for data analysis. Purposive sampling was employed in data collection. The internal determinants that influence dividend policy included in this study are: ratio of current asset, ratio of debt-to-equity, assets growth and collateralizable assets, as well as return on equity while the dependent variable is ratio of Dividend Payout. The findings of this research revealed that the ratio of dividend payout is unaffected by the current ratio, the debt-to-equity ratio, or growth. Dividend policy is influenced positively by Collagenization and Return on Equity. Consumer goods companies, according to this study, are more likely to pay out significant dividends to shareholders if they are profitable and have a large pool of collateral with which to back their claims. Studies show that managers are allowed to increase dividends to shareholders, which supports agency theory. According to study findings both theoretical and empirical, in the Nigerian consumer goods industry, where profits are high and collateral is available, companies prefer to give significant dividends to shareholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, online retail has developed rapidly. However, as consumer demands become increasingly sophisticated, the traditional online retail model has encountered difficulties with respect to meeting consumers' needs. As a result, numerous retailers with offline physical stores have emerged in the online retail industry. This paper constructs a game model for the invasion of the market by e-commerce retailers with offline physical stores in a context in which a traditional, online-only incumbent retailer is already in the market. Compared with the new entrant, the incumbent has the advantage of an established good reputation, and consumers prefer the products of the incumbent. This research shows that as consumers' product valuations increase, the following three situations may occur: a partially covered market, a multiple-equilibrium market or a fully covered market. In a partially covered market, the incumbency advantage does not affect the entrant. In a multiple-equilibrium market or fully covered market, the incumbency advantage impacts the profits of the entrant. However, in a fully covered market, if the incumbency advantage is too large, the profits of both retailers are damaged. Finally, this paper finds that offline physical stores can provide positive benefits to entrants. When consumers are highly sensitive to services, opening offline physical stores is an effective intrusion strategy that entrants can use to overcome the incumbency advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we use an innovative and nonstandard approach to model and estimate markups and market power. The approach uses a regression framework with determinants as well as a random component. We use this innovative tool to investigate the level of market power in Norwegian industries and regions. Norway is an interesting case study because in Norway prices on most consumer goods and services are higher than in similar countries. Given that many studies show substantial and an increasing trend in markup, it is naturally interesting to investigate the market power in different industries and different regions in Norway. We use an unbalanced panel collected by The Norwegian Tax Administration for the period 2000–2018 to address this issue. We find low and non-increasing market power in Norway, which is different from other countries. Further, we find that market powers decrease with firm-size, increase with geographical industrial concentration and decrease with rural location. • We investigate the level of markups in Norwegian industries and regions. • We use an innovative and nonstandard approach to model and estimate markups. • We account for heterogeneity in the markup estimates. • To get a better understanding, we include determinants of markups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to propose a technique for sentiment analysis that combines audio, textual, and visual data collected from customer input on social media sites such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, as well as feedback forms and product evaluations. The feelings of individuals are represented in these online social media reviews. As a result, sentiment research will be essential for helping the growth of enterprises and individuals. The work assigns variable weights using recording technique for different modules and subsequently fusing it. This enables us to determine which model is optimal for sentiment analysis and how each model affects the final results. A system that can extract information about people's feelings regarding a certain product from text, audio, and video. We may utilize model predictions to determine the amount of consumer happiness with the product, enabling the company to take the required steps to enhance the product. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research work presents a original solution for increasing the efficiency on management Supplied-Customer Services (SCS), based on a causal graph configuration. This approach expresses the connection, interaction, and collaboration between the two main actors, suppliers and consumers of goods and products. The causal graph model is intended for management of supply resources, production capacities, transport activities and customer demands. Initial configuration of this a priori generated graph includes the suppliers and consumers distributed in nodes and the interconnections expressed by the arches of the graph. A causal operator is introduced, which offer the efficient decisions propagation for the estimated solution of the supplier-customer services (SCS) problem. The customers can be served by the corresponding suppliers, or the suppliers must satisfy the services of the consumers, respectively. The road traffic is chosen for transport activities at a specific model to traffic network and appropriate control to avoid congestion and increase the real-time traffic performances for (SCS) management. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is visible on large structures of the supply-customer networks in different industrial and economic fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy efficiency can make energy access more affordable by reducing the electricity cost burden on households and businesses. Improving products' energy efficiency helps reduce monthly energy bills— freeing up funds that can feed back into the economy, thus stimulating economic growth. To demonstrate these benefits, this paper conducts a cost-benefit analysis (CBA) and a national impact analysis (NIA) for implementing an energy-efficiency standards and labeling (EESL) program for refrigeration products in Uganda. The CBA compares the costs versus the benefits of investing in energy-efficient products for consumers: It shows that the most cost-effective products have an efficiency level 35 % higher than baseline products sold on the market. By choosing these products, consumers save, on average, US$76 over the lifetime of the product. The NIA assesses the impact of an energy-efficiency standard set at that level and shows potential cumulative savings of US$595 million (2023–2040) for households and small businesses. These savings translate into additional purchasing power for households and investments for small businesses, leading to increased living standards and economic development. This paper describes the importance of implementing energy efficiency policies and programs in emerging economies where affordability of electricity hinders electricity access. This paper provides a rigorous approach of using CBA and NIA assessments to demonstrate the economic savings for the consumers and the nation to implement EESL programs for major electric equipment. • Energy efficiency increases consumer's welfare. • In Uganda, it can save consumers US$76 over the lifetime of the product. • This represents cumulative savings of US$595 million (2023–40) at the national level. • Energy efficiency policies is critical for electricity access affordability • The paper provides a Regulatory Impact Assessment replicable in other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Virtual reality (VR) technology has undergone a huge breakthrough in development and distribution over the last few years. It is now becoming an increasingly popular tool not only in the field of creating computer games, but also in industry and educational process. From the beginning, VR devices were big, uncomfortable, and very expensive. For this reason, they were used mainly in research laboratories, high-tech companies, and military installations. Currently, leading companies in the field of new technologies, such as HTC, Google, Sony, Samsung, Oculus, resp. Meta have filled the market with compact and accessible devices for nesting in the VR. They managed to create a completely new category of consumer goods. The paper is devoted to the study of virtual reality technologies and their use for the development of our own free-ofcharge game. The created game combines several genres, escape room, with elements of the genre of Shooter (FPS) and Logic. Our game could be used to practice logic and observation. The paper describes process of developing our virtual reality game "Escape room" from the beginning step by step until game over (choosing game engine, add correct assets, creating non-player character, basic methods). The aim of our research was identifying interesting educational games, which could be used as a tutorial for those who want to create virtual reality game and also for those who had virtual reality helm and want to try something new and freely available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports an extension of schema incongruity theory to a service form of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) distributed via a digital platform. According to this theory, an FMCG brand's service form would be incongruent compared to its traditional form available via supermarkets. Based on the relevancy and expectancy dimensions, the level of incongruence for such a service was classed as moderately incongruent. The study used qualitative research to investigate whether the moderate incongruence appealed to modern-day customers. The findings revealed that a subscription to receive a regular supply of the FMCG test brand appealed to the respondents. The moderate incongruity employed in this study was of an optimal stimulation level, enabling respondents to see the added values offered. The values recognised included convenience, family bonding, health and variety. The study observed schema incongruity theory operating for the service form of the FMCG brand. As the study used a qualitative methodology, the findings are specific to the brand and context tested. However, the high interest observed suggests schema incongruity theory could serve as a framework for using a digital distribution system to market service forms of FMCG brands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Retail chains are the dominant player in the distribution chain, which mainly provides consumer goods to final consumers. The distribution of individual retail shops in towns and villages is related to the demography of the selected region and to the degree of urbanisation. Due to the relative saturation of the market with retail chain shops, there is a renewed need for diversification. Given a good demographic structure of the population, it is possible to diversify through new technologies, including electromobility. The aim of the article is to describe the expansion of retail chains in a selected region considering its demographics, while evaluating the potential for installation of charging stations for electric cars as an element enabling to gain and retain customers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Studies of Lithuania's History is the property of Lietuvos Istorijos Studijos and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Studying the industrial technologies of raising birds, it is definitely necessary to reconsider and replace the old technologies with modern and high-performance technologies, of an intensive type, which take into account the physiological requirements of the birds. The old technologies have planted distrust among the consumers of food products, as a result of the diseases that have appeared, respectively: food poisoning, encephalopathies and dioxin poisoning. The paper presents the technology of breeding farms, feeding, watering and transporting meat birds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The success of a product is largely based on its customers' perceived value, which itself is heavily influenced by their beliefs and behavioral biases during the product's lifecycle. Traditional marketing analytics solutions seldom account for such biases and hence yield only suboptimal results. While the field of behavioral economics (BE) has much to offer in identifying human biases in decision making, bias models tailored to specific business problems are hard to come by. Understanding and shaping customer behavior for promoting sustainable products is even more challenging because research on consumer valuation of such products is still in its infancy. Even when interventions recommended by a BE model can be effective at the level of a population, it may not provide desired results at the individual customer level. In this work, we frame our optimal business intervention problem as a reinforcement learning problem, leveraging BE to design the action-space which consists of intervention types that account for consumer biases. Our solution is driven by a use case that aims to promote a new energy storage product based on repurposed EV battery cells. Empirically, we show not only can we achieve substantially better (55%) business outcomes by optimizing our intervention policies, but we can further improve (extra 13%) these outcomes by personalizing these policies using additional customer demographic features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although brand advertising increases demand for the originating brand, manufacturer advertising spillover effects on the demand for private label brands are positive, increasing consumers' demand on private label brands. Given a positive correlation among in-store products, this study shows that national advertising benefits store brands of retailers. While consumers infer product quality by observing the prices and advertising, a higher correlation among in-store products leads to a larger spillover effect of national advertising on private labels. Although retailers free ride on manufacturer's efforts, a rational expectations model shows that coordinated marketing activities initiated by retailers can reduce consumers' perceptive risk, thus benefit advertised brands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In view of previous research on consumers' single-peaked product preference and "matching" process, this paper examines the effect of price as a necessary condition for consumers' ideal-point formation process in making choices in a product array that has monotonically increasing values on the benefit dimension. Building on the "mood-as-information" perspective and incorporating the emerging stream of mood study, this paper also studies the moderating impact of mood on the effects of perceived self-skill levels on consumers' purchase intentions. Using experiments, this research generates and replicates consumers' single-peaked product preferences in a consumer behavioral lab. Results show that subjects always go for the best product option in the absence of price information (i.e., preference is monotonically increasing, rather than single-peaked), and subjects exhibit different product preference patterns when they are in different moods. This paper extends previous research by explicitly including and testing the effect of price as a cost dimension, and incorporating the emerging trend of mood study, and therefore, this paper gains a deeper understanding of consumers' single-peaked preference function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on infant and toddler ocular trauma in the United States. This retrospective analysis of ocular injury data for children ≤3 years of age focused on epidemiologic trends in pediatric ocular injuries in the United States caused by consumer products from 2017 to 2021 and compared differences between pre-pandemic (2017-2019) and pandemic (2020-2021) time periods. Data were collected from the US Consumer Product Safety Commission National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, which includes emergency department visits caused by consumer product-related injuries from a nationally representative sample of hospitals. The national-level estimate of ocular injuries in infants and toddlers was 51,250 (95% CI, 30471-72030). Most injuries occurred at home. We found a significant decline in the proportion of projectile ocular injuries from 0.89% (95% CI, 0.35-2.25) to 0.12% (95% CI, 0.03-0.45) (P = 0.037). The proportion of patients diagnosed with chemical-burn-related injuries increased significantly, from 23.34% (95% CI, 19.73-27.38) in the pre-pandemic period to 31.63% (95% CI, 26.98-36.69) in the pandemic period (P = 0.048), with 71.75% (95% CI, 65.25-77.46) due to cleaning products. After adjusting for confounding variables, the odds of sustaining a chemical-burn-related injury in the post-pandemic period were 1.51 times higher than in the pre-pandemic period (95% CI, 1.10-2.08). The proportion of children diagnosed with chemical-burn-related injuries increased significantly in the post-pandemic period, with a large portion due to cleaning products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Front warehouse mode retailing originates from the e-commerce logistics industry, pre-positioning the warehouse and placing customer orders close to the community service station, so that goods can be delivered quickly. Consumers have put forward higher requirements for the timeliness of logistics distribution and the convenience of online purchases in the front warehouse mode. Using panel data of 37,362 transactions from 159 front warehouses in the online market, we study how consumers' satisfaction on products and logistics, as well as the punctuality of sorting and delivery affect sales performance. Our results show that negative review of products and logistics will significantly reduce retail sales performance. Interestingly, we find that punctual sorting and delivery increase the number of daily orders while reduce the average sales amount per order. When the punctuality of delivery service is guaranteed, consumers are willing to place orders more frequently even for some low-priced daily goods. This paper emphasizes the importance of the quality of delivery service in the front warehouse mode, and inspires retailers to give full play to the role of the front warehouse in meeting the daily needs of consumers for high-frequency and fast-moving consumer goods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rising inequality and increasing concentration of corporate power have brought renewed attention to questions of political economy, and to how law helps to construct private power and encase it from democratic rearrangement. This Article brings a political economy perspective to the law of commercial secrets, to show that changes in the scope and justification for trade secret law, operating in a context of rising importance of data and information, have set this law on a collision course with our democracy. An area of law that was once understood as focused on fair competition and commercial morality has been retheorized as a kind of "intellectual property," following prevailing neoliberal arguments about the economics of information. Earlier limits on the scope of the law have been dissolved, so that companies today can claim that almost any confidential corporate information is a trade secret. The law has also been constitutionalized, so that a legislature disclosing corporate information -- from the ingredients in cigarettes to the price of a drug -- now face powerful challenges from corporations on the basis of the Takings Clause. Some of the most basic functions of the modern regulatory state, including many mandated disclosures about commercial products to the public, would not have been possible if this view had reigned in earlier decades. Unsurprisingly, it did not. Several Supreme Court cases that have largely been forgotten show that courts even at the height of laissez faire were clear about the categorical priority of the public, and rejected trade secret claims when they conflicted with the public's right to know. These cases, and earlier logics of trade secrecy that see it as an expression of values of fair competition and commercial morality, together form what I call the "public history of trade secrets." Recalling this history can help us to defend a more democratic relation between the political and the economic in our age of informational capitalism. These cases also point to a clear legal principle that would, if recovered, reshape what legislatures and regulators are able to reveal to the public: The disclosure of corporate secrets can be made a condition of participation in markets whenever the information helps illuminate the nature of a product or service. Recognizing this would enable vastly more public insight into companies and their products -- for example, enabling states to mandate disclosure of the algorithms that shape our social media feeds, and the secret data companies hold about the risks and benefits of consumer products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To describe the widespread use of compounded bioidentical hormone therapies (cBHT). To define the term clinical utility and present why there is insufficient evidence to support the overall clinical utility of cBHT products. To recommend actions that pharmacists and regulators can take to promote safer cBHT use.Summary: Nationwide, millions of men and women use cBHT products. Use of these products appears to be increasing year-to-year, according to the limited data reported by the 503 A and 503 B pharmacies that formulate and dispense these products. Although use appears to be widespread, the safety, efficacy, and clinical utility of these products remains unproven. This commentary provides examples of what draws consumers to these products, comparative costs, and formulation challenges. Actions to promote the safe use of cBHT and approaches to begin the study of these products are provided.Conclusion: While significant progress was made via the Drug Supply Chain Security Act in 2013 to improve the safety of compounding practice in general, efforts to further improve the safety and transparency of cBHT dispensing and use must continue, at both the local and national level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of H-Industria: Revista de Historia de la Industria Argentina y Latinoamericana is the property of H-Industria, Revista de Historia de la Industria Argentina y Latinoamericana and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Romanian Review of Private Law / Revista Română de Drept Privat is the property of Universul Juridic Publishing House and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Capital Structure is one of the most researched topics by academics and professionals because it has a direct influence on the enterprise stock value. Many studies have discussed the determinants of capital structure, but the results are still mixed. This paper aims to determine factors affecting the capital structure of consumer goods companies listed in the Indonesia capital market during 2016–2020. This research is a type of applied research with a quantitative approach. This paper use panel data regression with a random effect model to achieve the research goal with sample size is 36 firms selecting by using the purposive sampling technique. The results show that liquidity has a negative effect on the company's capital structure in the consumer goods industry, meanwhile, firm growth and business risk have no effect on the company's capital structure. This condition shows the relevance of the pecking order hypothesis in explaining the determinants of the firm's capital structure in the consumer goods industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) sector is a foundation stone of the growing Indian economy. This sector strikes every facet of human life. The FMCG producers now realize that there is a lot of prospect for them to enter into the rural market. The rising incomes and growing lifestyle is a significant attraction for this sector. There are more than middle income households in the rural areas as compare to the urban. Thus the rural marketing has been growing progressively over the years and is now bigger than the urban market. Globally, the FMCG sector has been successful in selling products to the lower and middle income groups in India. More than 70% of sales are made to middle class households today and over 50% of the middle class residing in rural India. The FMCG sector is energized about a rapidly increasing rural population whose incomes are intensifying and which is willing to spend on goods designed to improve their lifestyles. Also with a near saturation and cut throat competition in urban India, many manufacturers and marketers of this sector are driven to formulate new strategies for targeting the rural consumers. But the rural penetration rates are low. This presents a tremendous opportunity for manufacturers of branded products who can convert prospective consumers into consumers to buy their products. Companies including Multi National Companies and regional players started developing marketing strategies to attract this untouched market. While formulating the strategies, the marketers need to take care of the rural consumers differently from urban consumers because they are economically, socially and psycho-graphically different from each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of current study is to compile the findings of a number of studies and publications in the field of retailing and consumer behaviour to depict the factors through an in-depth analysis of the relevant literature to understand dynamics of a consumer's buying behaviour towards online and offline shopping pre, during and post Covid 19 outbreak. To accomplish this, a review of the empirical studies related to the consumer online and offline shopping behaviour was performed. To carried out literature review a term-based search method was applied which was restricted to a certain date and specific online databases. Only peer-reviewed articles in English-language journals are considered for review. After an extensive literature review, 70 relevant articles are identified. The factors that influence consumers' online and offline purchase intentions pre, during and post Covid 19 outbreak were classified according to their similarity and patterns. The literature was divided into numerous components effecting consumer buying behaviour and as a result, the study framework was designed using a content analysis of multiple research publications. The study presents a conceptual framework for exploring the factors that impact online and offline shopping behaviour. The limitation of this study is that this is a conceptual study with no real proof of the factors' connection. The number of articles found is limited due to the term-based search approach utilized. In this digital era, the consumer can interact with a retailer's digital storefront to purchase the products or services over the internet. With one click, customer can glance the information regarding the product and services. Today, Buyers are only a click away from comparing competitor's products and attributes. All around, the world is witnessing the impact of digital marketing on consumer behaviour. This study makes an attempt to understand the impact on consumer behaviour specifically in the process of consumer buying behaviour by taking two areas of digital marketing i.e. online ad banner and digital word of mouth(D-WOM) in the form of user generated product reviews and ratings. The study has adopted a mixed method of study i.e. qualitative and quantitative study where in the qualitative study, in-depth interview of 20 participants has been taken in order to get the insight picture. In the quantitative study, a survey has been taken out on 800 sample size selected on the random basis after confirming the eligibility of the respondents. It has been concluded that the digital marketing makes some really good impact on the consumer behaviour with special reference to select cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study which explained the level of consumer preferences for various news. However these studies have related to the comparison of the consumers preference for newspaper and television media. Newspaper has become a part of any modern society. This is one of the most importance consumer products of our daily life. Like all other consumer good newspaper industry requires some special marketing efforts. The study regarding respondent's effectiveness after advertising creating created a deep in sigh about the market conditions which is really helpful for the mediums to further concentrate on this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the impact of advertising on consumer buying behavior in Hyderabad in Telangana State. Most organizations in Telangana pay unexcited attitude in advertising their products and services through effective advertising medium and this have adverse effect on their output in terms of sales. They do not see the need of spending part of their budget in advertisement to promote their products and services and influence consumer buying behavior. With great increase in technological advancement, effective advertising has become extremely important to be able to have competitive advantage, hence the need for this study. This study adopted a survey research design. It involves collection of data from respondents through questionnaire to test hypotheses. Multiple regression technique was used to test hypotheses. The research findings show that a significant and positive relationship lie between the independent variables emotional response, environmental response towards brand, brand awareness and sensory stimulated advertising and dependent variable consumer buying behavior. All the independent variables have statistically significant t-ratio and have positive relationship with consumer buying behavior. This result is consistent with the literature. We recommend that for effective advertising to take place, the target audience must be extensively reached to know their consumption pattern and behavior toward products and services. And that effort should be directed more on emotional related advertising, since consumers patronage are highly induced through their emotion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]