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The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link. We test the profit implication of product-market planning as a dynamic capability, from a contingency theory perspective. Among a sample of high-technology industrial organizations, we find that product-market planning capability is significantly and positively related to profits under marketing differentiation, but negative implications ensue for those adopting cost efficiency strategies. Pursuing hybrid strategies has no significant effect, while technological turbulence also has no moderating effect. Additional analysis establishes the temporal effects of product-market planning capability on 3-year lagged profits. These differential results are considered within a contingency framework. Implications are identified and discussed for industrial marketing management theory and practice.

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link. This study examines quadratic effects of three export decision-making approaches (planning, creativity and spontaneity) on innovation orientation, and the direct effect of innovation orientation on export market performance. The model, anchored in decision theory and dynamic capabilities, is tested on a sample of Chinese exporting firms using structural equation modelling. Findings indicate that while a greater proclivity to innovate is beneficial for export market performance, a more complex web of relationship is revealed between the three export decision-making approaches and innovation orientation, providing insights on the operationalization of a dynamic decision-making capability. Specifically, while an increasing level of export planning reduces an exporter’s capacity to innovate, creativity has a positive direct effect on exporters’ innovation orientation, which also benefits from extreme spontaneity in export decision-making. We discuss theoretical contributions and export managerial implications of this dynamic decision-making capability for industrial marketing management.

Raw (unfired) earth represents a sustainable and efficient alternative to traditional construction materials but its dissemination into building practice has been hindered by a relatively high vulnerability to water erosion. Enzyme induced carbonate precipitation (EICP) can improve the durability of earth materials without using traditional chemical binders such as cement and lime. EICP utilises the urease enzyme to catalyse the hydrolysis of urea, which produces carbonate ions that react with the calcium ions dissolved in the pore water, thus resulting in the precipitation of calcium carbonate. The calcium carbonate fills the soil voids and binds particles together, which reduces water permeability and increases material strength. The urease enzyme is a hexameric protein that is found in the tissues of many common plants. This work proposes a low-cost and simple stabilisation technology that makes use of crude urease enzyme extracted from soybeans. This technology is applied to the stabilisation of compacted earth, whose properties are then assessed via unconfined compression, moisture buffering and durability tests. The findings suggest a noticeable improvement of material strength and durability, though further investigation is necessary to increase the competitiveness of EICP stabilisation against standard techniques using cement and lime.

While existing studies find mixed results on the effect of hidden liquidity, this study exploits the Tick Size Pilot (“the Pilot”) as a quasi-natural experiment and uses instrumental-variable regression analyses to examine how hidden liquidity, both on and off-exchange, affect the informativeness of quotations. We document that an increase in tick size results in a reduction in pre-trade transparency, but with opposing effects on on- and off-exchange hidden liquidity. We find that an increase in hidden liquidity reduces price efficiency, the contribution of quotes to price discovery, and the ability to manage the order execution risk and cost of exchange order submission. In addition, an increase in hidden liquidity reduces the ability to manage transaction costs off exchange. These results hold for both on- and off-exchange hidden liquidity. However, several results differ when pre-trade transparency is measured using trade-based measures of hidden liquidity rather than order-based measures.

Purpose To develop and apply an image acquisition and analysis strategy for spatial comparison of CT-ventilation images with hyperpolarized gas MRI. Methods 11 lung cancer patients underwent 129Xe and 3He ventilation MRI and co-registered 1H anatomical MRI. Expiratory and inspiratory breath-hold CTs were used for deformable image registration and calculation of three CT-ventilation metrics: Hounsfield unit (CTHU), Jacobian (CTJac) and specific gas volume change (CTSGV). Inspiration CT and hyperpolarized gas ventilation MRI were registered via same-breath anatomical 1H-MRI. Voxel-wise Spearman correlation coefficients were calculated between each CT-ventilation image and its corresponding 3He/129Xe-MRI, and for the mean values in regions of interest (ROIs) ranging from fine to coarse in-plane dimensions of 5x5, 10x10, 15x15 and 20x20, located within the lungs as defined by the same-breath 1H-MRI lung mask. Correlation of 3He and 129Xe-MRI was also assessed. Results Spatial correlation of CT-ventilation against 3He/129Xe-MRI increased with ROI size. For example, for CTHU, mean±SD Spearman coefficients were 0.37±0.19/0.33±0.17 at the voxel-level and 0.52±0.20/0.51±0.18 for 20x20 ROIs, respectively. Correlations were stronger for CTHU than for CTJac or CTSGV. Correlation of 3He with 129Xe-MRI was consistently higher than either gas against CT-ventilation maps over all ROIs (p

Background It has been estimated that more than 30% of health care spending in the United States is wasteful, and that low-value care, which drives up costs unnecessarily while increasing patient risk, is a significant component of wasteful spending. Objectives To address the need for an ability to measure the magnitude of low-value care nationwide, identify the clinical services that are the greatest contributors to waste, and track progress toward eliminating low-value use of these services. Such an ability could provide valuable input to the efforts of policymakers and health systems to improve efficiency. Methods and Results We reviewed existing methods that could contribute to measuring low-value care and developed an integrated framework that combines multiple methods to comprehensively estimate and track the magnitude and principal sources of clinical waste. We also identified a process and needed research for implementing the framework. Conclusions A comprehensive methodology for measuring and tracking low-value care in the United States would provide an important contribution toward reducing waste. Implementation of the framework described in this article appears feasible, and the proposed research program will allow moving incrementally toward full implementation while providing a near-term capability for measuring low-value care that can be enhanced over time.

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link. Corporate enterprises must support its business units to adapt to changes that are increasingly dramatic and complex. In response, corporate entities must organize to embed a corporate entrepreneurial orientation (EO) that pervades the actions of its business units to create the radical innovations needed to thrive in these circumstances. By developing a global willingness–local ability framework, we test a multi-level model of corporate EO by conceptualizing its effects on business unit radical innovation and business unit financial performance, moderated by business unit R&D resourcing and business unit absorptive capacity. With data from 2820 business units of 1290 Taiwanese corporations from two separate surveys, we find support for our theoretical expectations and contribute much-needed knowledge of the multi-level effects of EO and the conditions to turn EO into actual innovation activity and profit from it.

Soft alluvial soils present unfavourable conditions for engineering developments due to their poor bearing capacities and high potential for experiencing shrinkage and swelling. This paper focusses on deep dry soil mixing (DDSM), which introduces cementitious binders to soft soils via a rotating auger drill, thereby producing soil-cement columns. Ordinary Portland cement (CEM-I) is globally used across the construction industry and is the most commonly used binder for DDSM applications due to its high strength performance. However, CEM-I production is one of the world׳s most energy intensive and expensive industrial processes, contributing 5–7% of the world׳s total CO2. There is now significant pressure on the cement and construction industries to greatly reduce their CO2 emissions by developing “greener” alternatives to CEM-I, which are both more environmentally and financially sustainable in the long-term. Alkali activated industrial by-products (IBP׳s) such as ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS), known as geopolymers have been identified as potential alternatives. These are advantageous due to negating the need to transfer IBP׳s to landfill, their abundance, negligible or zero production costs. Geopolymers are capable of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by up to 64%. Calcium-bearing slags have also been found to possess potential for carbon capture and storage (CCS). Comparisons with the strength and durability of untreated and stabilised soils have been made in this study. Results indicate that stabilising an alluvial soil with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) activated GGBS produced significant strength and durability improvements surpassing CEM-I. The addition of NaOH allowed pozzolanic reactions to occur, leading to improved mechanical properties with time, with a particularly marked improvement in strength.

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link. Premised on the idea that not all salesperson behaviors can be pre-scripted and that, increasingly, salespersons must find ways to respond to unexpected but urgent market conditions, this study theorizes the drivers, outcomes and boundary conditions of salesperson improvisation. Using primary data from industrial salespersons, the study examines how perceptions of resource availability and customer demandingness drive salesperson improvisation and condition its sales performance effects. Findings show that higher levels of salesperson improvisation are associated with increased sales performance. Additionally, a heightened perception of resource availability and greater customer demandingness are associated with increases in salesperson improvisation. Furthermore, findings indicate that the salesperson improvisation–sales performance relationship is strengthened when resource availability is greater and when customer demandingness is lower.

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link. Improvisation is vital for strategy development, but there remains a lack of understanding about this phenomenon. This emerges directly from the insufficient investigation of its drivers and context. This paper extends improvisation research to the unexplored competitive settings of an emerging middle income economy. Drawing on survey data from Malaysian research-intensive firms, we examine managerial and organisational antecedents of improvisation under turbulence. Findings reveal that organisational risk-taking and manager expertise are common antecedents of improvisation, but additional relationships arise under high (flexibility) and low turbulence (learning, manager tenure), developing capacity to inform practice, which is critically lacking in international business and management theory.

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link. Micro-foundational approaches can enable firms to develop organizational ambidexterity, which is critical to long-term prosperity. However, to date, few studies have examined how mergers and acquisitions (M&A)—processes reliant on knowledge transfer—provide a useful organizational context through which to understand the achievement of organizational ambidexterity. Considering organizational ambidexterity from the viewpoint of exploitative and explorative innovation, we examine how behavioural contexts (corporate entrepreneurship) and structure (integration) regulate knowledge transfer activities at the micro-foundational and firm levels within a cross-border M&A context. Analysis of 143 cross-border M&As completed by United Kingdom (UK) acquiring firms revealed that: (1) knowledge sharing between the acquirer and the acquired leads to organizational ambidexterity; (2) increased use of the acquired target’s capabilities has a negative effect on organizational ambidexterity; (3) overall, capability sharing is positively related to organizational ambidexterity; (4) corporate entrepreneurship has both negative and positive moderating effects (on use of the acquired target’s capabilities and capability sharing, respectively), while integration positively moderates the effects of knowledge sharing on organizational ambidexterity.

The performance of transportation networks is critically dependent on the performance of cutting and embankment slopes. An instrumented embankment has been established at Nafferton farm in North East England to investigate the response of an embankment to changing climatic conditions. Higher pore water pressures (near to hydrostatic) were observed during winter months (typically January) falling back to lower values in March. The pore water pressures showed generally positive values in the upper 3 m of the embankment although suctions existed at 4.5 m depth. Soil water retention curves (SWRC) are essential to understand the changes in water content and suction that can take place during seasonal cycles and during extreme weather events. SWRCs for the embankment soil have been measured in the laboratory using novel high suction tensiometer based equipment. The results confirm that wetting and drying paths for the soil show significant hysteresis. The major differences occur in the first cycle of drying and wetting and smaller differences are seen in subsequent scanning curve paths.

Systems and methods are described for monitoring temporal and spatial moisture content changes in clay embankments using electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) imaging. The methodology is based upon development of a robust relationship between fill resistivity and moisture content and its use in the transformation of resistivity image differences in terms of relative moisture content changes. Moisture level and moisture content movement applications are exemplified using two case histories from the UK. The first is the BIONICS embankment, near Newcastle (NE England), which was constructed in 2005 using varying degrees of compaction of a medium plasticity sandy, silty clay derived from the Durham Till. The second is a Victorian embankment south of Nottingham (Central England), constructed in 1897 using end tipping of Late Triassic siltstone and mudstone taken from local cuttings. Climate change forecasts for the UK suggest that transportation earthworks will be subjected to more sustained, higher temperatures and increased intensity of rainfall. Within the context of preventative geotechnical asset maintenance, ERT imaging can provide a monitoring framework to manage moisture movement and identify failure trigger conditions within embankments, thus supporting on demand inspection scheduling and low cost early interventions., Construction and Building Materials, 92, ISSN:0950-0618

This paper presents a new method for testing the behaviour of soils placed under tensile load and demonstrates its suitability for testing a number of soil types under various conditions including saturation, compaction and stabilisation. Validation of the results obtained for the soils at relatively low saturation has been conducted using the established Brazilian (indirect) test for measuring the tensile strength of brittle materials. A fair comparison has been found and the results highlight the limited applicability of the Brazilian method to soils at very low water contents at which the tensile failure criterion has been assumed using this methodology. Optical characterisation of the performance of both testing methods has also been conducted using Digital Image Correlation. The consistent, accurate measurement of directly induced tensile strains using the proposed new method has been confirmed, verifying its capability to apply a direct tensile stress in the absence of shearing, a problem commonly associated with other tensile testing methods. The developed technique has then been used to investigate the water content–tensile strength relationship for compacted, unsaturated soils and offers significant advantages in the characterisation of clay soils subjected to variable climatic loading.

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link. This study explores the psychological factors that influence market diffusion of popular culture digital services. Digital service websites have been diffusing through global markets with relative ease, but the factors influencing this are not well understood. The transition from the brick and mortar services to a digital outlet represents a form of market disruption but the way that this impacts the consumer experience and the way firms engage in innovation are not fully understood, nor are the various cognitive factors driving the adoption rates. There is a need to understand cognitions that influence intent to engage, as well as the perceptions of the social environment in which the service offering occurs. Therefore, we offer an examination of different social contexts (US and UK) to explore the impact of certain attitudes and norms toward online gambling consumption. The results of study demonstrate how variations between online and offline environments impact consumer adoption and market diffusion. Additionally, the results further support the need for more studies to focus on the soft factors that influence their innovation capabilities.

This paper presents recent work in utilising industrial by-products as sustainable binders for use in deep soil mixing, to enhance the geotechnical properties of soft soils. The study has used geotechnical and mineralogical tests to determine the performance of the binders when incorporated into an artificial silty sand soil. Comparisons with the strength and durability of untreated and stabilised soils have been made. The study indicates that from the by-products tested, soils stabilised with alkali activated blast furnace slag resulted in the greatest strength and durability improvements; with other materials tested showing smaller improvements. The addition of alkali activators has been observed to allow pozzolanic reactions to occur, which has led to improved mechanical properties; primarily strength, which increased with time. The durability of the soil was improved by the additions of by-products, though alkali activation did not cause significant additional increase in durability.

Background Rapid Response Teams aim to accelerate recognition and treatment of acutely unwell patients. Delays in delivery might undermine efficiency of the intervention. Our understanding of the causes of these delays is, as yet, incomplete. Aim To identify modifiable causes of delays in the treatment of critically ill patients outside intensive care with a focus on factors amenable to system design. Methods Review of care records and direct observation with process mapping of care delivered to 17 acutely unwell patients attended by a Rapid Response Team in a District General Hospital in the United Kingdom. Delays were defined as processes with no added value for patient care. Results Essential diagnostic and therapeutic procedures accounted for only 31% of time of care processes. Causes for delays could be classified into themes as (1) delays in call-out of the Rapid Response Team, (2) problems with team cohesion including poor communication and team efficiency and (3) lack of resources including lack of first line antibiotics, essential equipment, experienced staff and critical care beds. Conclusion We identified a number of potentially modifiable causes for delays in care of acutely ill patients. Improved process design could include automated call-outs, a dedicated kit for emergency treatment in relevant clinical areas, increased usage of standard operating procedures and staff training using crew resource management techniques.

Resources, strategy, and performance inter-relationships are central to strategic marketing theory. Strategic resources are key inputs to product-market strategy that form the basis of superior firm performance. However, these inter-relationships are subject to ‘fit’ requirements. This article examines the hypothesis that greater fit between the strategic resources of marketing organizations and product-market strategy encourages superior financial and customer-market performance. This fit is most important to marketing organizations exhibiting either a Defender or Analyzer strategic orientation. No significant relationship is found for fit among Prospectors.

Contrary to common misconceptions, firms tend generally to remain constant in their strategic approach to markets and rarely deviate from their prevailing strategic archetype. Consequently, the effectiveness of a firm's product–market strategy is as important as its persistence in achieving overall strategic performance. Adopting a resource-advantage perspective, we examine the extent to which resource bundles differ among firms within a product–market strategy performance typology. Analyzing data generated from high-technology industrial manufacturers, we find that successful strategists are endowed with significantly greater levels of resources–that include ‘strategy championing’, ‘strategy commitment’, ‘implementation support’, ‘implementation effectiveness’, ‘learning’, and ‘memory’–in contrast with unsuccessful strategists, hopeful strategists, and fortunate strategists. Further, important inter-group differences are identified and discussed, along with the implications of this study for researchers and marketing managers.

To the Editor : In spite of great strides made in recent years to improve its prevention and treatment, cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the most costly contributor to national health expenditures ([1,2][1]). As part of an effort to improve our understanding of the appropriate allocation of

This paper uses the concept of the Posterior Cram er-Rao bound to analyze the limitations faced when estimating hedge fund exposures from return data. The methodology allows to asses the achievable accuracy of exposure estimates without actually computing them and comparing them to actual exposures. This is particularly useful in cases where actual exposures are not available. The main determinants of the accuracy are shown to be the variance of the hedge fund exposures and the ratio of market variance over the variance of an idiosynchratic error term. The paper provides examples that demonstrate the application to real world cases.

The percentages of positive lymphocytes stained with OKT3 (total), OKT4 (helper/inducer) or OKT8 (suppressor/cytotoxic) monoclonal antibodies have been determined in normal individuals. Under a variety of experimental conditions, the results were found to be unaffected by cryopreservation, paraformaldehyde fixation or incubation regime. In contrast, the results were affected, both quantitatively and qualitatively, by the choice of fluorescein-conjugated anti-mouse IgG as the second step reagent.