The aim of this thesis is partly to create a dynamic decision model for Sandvik Machining Solutions distribution flows and partly to evaluate how the stock transfer system logic handle four specific exceptional situations. The purpose is to reduce the total costs while keeping or improving the service level. The thesis presents a total cost model and guidelines for the planning function when deciding the main supplier in the distribution. The thesis also presents a system logic evaluation of the stock transfer logic used by Sandvik Machining Solutions.

線上遊戲產業是目前國內數位內容發展當中的重點產業，隨著線上遊戲種類越來越多，其消費者區隔也成為重要的課題。本研究旨在研究性別差異與生活型態變項，對於線上遊戲使用者之消費行為影響，期能提供線上遊戲廠商與線上遊戲消費行為研究者，對於線上遊戲使用者間性別差異與生活形態差異之了解。 研究中採用了EKB消費者決策模式，將線上遊戲使用者之消費行為分為五個階段探討：「需求確認」（Problem Recognition）、「蒐集資訊」（Information Search）、「評估方案」（Alternative Evaluation）、「購買行為」（Purchase Decision）以及「購後行為」（Post-purchase Behavior）。 研究工具則使用網路問卷調查，將問卷內容置於免費問卷網站My3Q(www.my3q.com)提供BBS遊戲討論區及遊戲討論網站之網友連結填答，得到353份網路問卷，其中有效問卷計有327份。 研究結果如下： 一、男性使用者注重「遊戲主題與形式」，而女性注重「人物場景造形設計」。 二、女性使用者對「動作」、「益智」類型遊戲較男性使用者熱衷。 三、男性玩過的遊戲數量較女性為多。 四、女性較常與網友一同進行遊戲，男性則較常與現實中的朋友一起。 五、刺激流行族為線上遊戲主力族群。 六、積極規劃族對線上遊戲之投入程度較低。 七、固執理性族較不願意花費在線上遊戲上。 / On-line game industry is the key industry of digital content development in Taiwan. With the increasing categories of the on-line games, segmenting the consumers becomes an important subject. The study focus on how gender and lifestyle factors affect consumer behavior, which suggest to offer the on-line game manufacturers and on-line game consumer behavior researchers, to the understanding of on-line game players. The E.K.B. consumer decision model has been applied on the study, and divides the consumer behavior into five stages: Problem Recognition, Information Search, Alternative Evaluation, Purchase Decision and Post-purchase Behavior. Questionnaire post on free website My3Q (http://www.my3q.com) was used for this study, and offered BBS users and game websites users to link and fill out. Among completed 353 subjects, 327 are effective questionnaires. The results of this study are: First, most male players pay attention to “the theme and form of the game,” and most female players pay attention to “characters design and scenery design.” Second, comparing with male players, most female users are in favor of “action games” and “casual games.” Third, male players have more on-line game experience than female players. Fourth, female players often join with internet friends; male players often join with friends in their real life. Fifth, people who like exciting are the main population of on-line game. Sixth, relatively, people who plan their life actively apply themselves less on the on-line game. Finally, stubborn and rational people spend less on on-line game.

Submitted by Viviane Lima da Cunha (viviane@biblioteca.ufpb.br) on 2017-06-22T14:15:06Z No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 3580242 bytes, checksum: 63c3a2cbda0197a7117739490979581d (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-06-22T14:15:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 3580242 bytes, checksum: 63c3a2cbda0197a7117739490979581d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-19 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / Usually, the people are well understood by somebody else, considering adjectives who describe their behaviour. This description or characterization is consider a singularity of these personality under your pairs. Some theoretical share the idea that traits are fundamental units of personality, presenting a high range of dispositions for answer the questions in certain ways. Therefore, the personality is a construct which strong influence under the behaviours, with influence in behaviours associate to healthy too. The Five Big Factors Associated with the Personality is considered a model well understood and with great replicability in many countries, who subsidized the formulation of instruments for personality rating. Taking this big concept for make a psicological evaluation, is necessary to use instruments that are not too long and whose items are easily understand by the subjects evaluated. Considering this needs and the importance of personality evaluation, the goal of this study was development and get evidences valid for a construct of a instrument for personality evaluation. Comparisons were made between two types of scale, one based on the Likert method and the other on the semantic differential method and another in differential semantic method. The research was count with a living togheter sample of 247 people in the Pilot Study and 571 attendees in the Final Study, of the both sexes and college students. The scales passed through semantic analysis with 10 subjects of lower extract of the population. It was also carried out the analysis of judges with three experts. In the Final Study were held 7 Factor Analyses (AF) for each scale, was also calculated Cronbach's alpha for each facet and dimensions in order to verify the reliability of the instruments. From the found psychometric results, it opted for the Semantic Differential scale to perform the analyzes of the items by the Item Response Theory. Therefore, the Semantic Differential Scale presented construct evidence of construct validity of as well as evidence of accuracy, be appropriate for personality evaluation. / Normalmente os indivíduos são caracterizados por outrem, levando em consideração adjetivos que descrevam seu comportamento. Essa descrição ou caracterização é considerada uma particularidade da personalidade daquele sujeito perante seus pares. Alguns teóricos compartilham a ideia de que os traços são unidades fundamentais da personalidade, representando disposições amplas para responder de determinadas maneiras. Dessa forma, a personalidade é um construto que tem forte influência sobre os comportamentos, influenciando também comportamentos em saúde. O modelo dos Cinco Grandes Fatores de Personalidade tem subsidiado a elaboração de instrumentos de avaliação da personalidade por ser considerado um modelo compreensivo de considerável replicabilidade em vários países. Para realizar uma avaliação psicológica levando em consideração este amplo conceito, faz-se necessária a utilização de instrumentos que não sejam demasiadamente longos, bem como instrumentos cujos itens sejam de fácil compreensão por parte dos sujeitos avaliados. Dadas as demandas e a relevância da avaliação da personalidade, o objetivo deste estudo foi desenvolver e obter evidências de validade de construto de um instrumento para a avaliação da personalidade. Foram realizadas comparações entre dois tipos de escalas de resposta, sendo uma baseada no método Likert e a outra no método do diferencial semântico. A pesquisa contou com uma amostra de conveniência de 247 sujeitos no Estudo Piloto e 571 participantes no Estudo Final, sendo eles sujeitos de ambos os sexos e universitários. Foi realizada a análise semântica das versões iniciais dos instrumentos com 10 sujeitos do extrato educacional mais baixo da população alvo. Também foi realizada a análise de juízes com três especialistas. O Estudo Piloto resultou na exclusão de itens a partir da análise do poder discriminativo dos itens. No Estudo Final foram realizadas 7 Análises Fatoriais (AF) para cada escala; também foi calculado o alfa de Cronbach para cada faceta e as dimensões com o objetivo de verificar a fidedignidade dos instrumentos. A partir dos resultados psicométricos encontrados, optou-se pela Escala de Diferencial Semântico para realizar as análises dos itens por meio da Teoria de Resposta ao Item. Dessa forma a Escala de Diferencial Semântico apresentou evidências de validade de construto, bem como evidências de precisão, sendo a mesma adequada para avaliação da personalidade.

Evacuation is oftentimes the best means to prevent the loss of lives when residents encounter certain hazards, such as hurricanes. Emergency managers and experts make great efforts to increase evacuation compliance but risk area residents may procrastinate even after making the decision to leave, thus complicating response activities. Purpose - This study explores the factors determining evacuees’ mobilization periods, defined here as, the delay time between the decision to evacuate and actual evacuation. The theoretical model that guides this research is built on the protective action decision model (PADM). It captures both the social and psychological factors in the process of transferring risk information to mobilization action. The psychological process of risk communication originates from personalized external information and ends with the formation of risk perception, ultimately influencing evacuees’ mobilizations. Design/methodology/approach – Using structural equation modeling (SEM), the model is tested using survey data collected from Hurricane Rita (2005) evacuees in 2006 (N = 897). The residents of three Texas coastal counties (Harris, Brazoria, and Galveston) are randomly selected and telephone-interviewed. Findings – The findings indicate that mobilizations are affected directly by respondents’ concerns of the threats to their personal lives and costs and dangers on their evacuation trips. The perceptions of evacuees can be related to their exposure, attention, and understanding of the risk information. Research limitations/implications – The results suggest that practitioners pay more attention on the residents’ understanding of different types of risks, their abilities to process the risk information, as well as the means information is delivered. Therefore the public authorities should be more active in protecting evacuees’ properties and assets, as well as encourage evacuees to take closer shelters to avoid potential costs on road. Also the community should be more involved in mobilizing evacuation, as long as social cues can assist evacuees to better comprehend the threat information. Originality/value – This study tests the PADM framework empirically and structurally. It also clarifies the definition of evacuation mobilization using a new operation based on the evacuation groups per household.

Master Thesis deals with supplier rating with usage of fuzzy logic as an advanced decision-making method. There was made a model for selection of the optimal technologies supplier for a self-service vehicle wash. The main solution is realized with support of programs MS Excel and MATLAB.

I samband med den växande teknologiska utvecklingen har spridningen av internetbaserade recensioner, även kallat electronic-word-of-mouth (eWOM), fått en allt större betydelse för konsumenterna inför ett köpbeslut. Turismbranschen är ett exempel på en bransch där allt fler människor använder online recensioner vid val av hotell online. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur den negativa spridningen av eWOM påverkar köpbeslutsprocessen hos svenska konsumenter vid onlinebokning av hotell. Studien baserades på teorier som belyser följande ämnen; köpbeslutsprocessen, trovärdighet och eWOM.  Studiens urval grundades på individer som har tidigare erfarenheter av hotellbokning online och använder online recensioner vid sin informationssökning samt är över 18 år gamla. Studien bestod av en kvalitativ undersökning där tio respondenter har intervjuats på ett semistrukturerat vis. Intervjufrågorna bestod av 35 frågeställningar som var tematiserade i fyra olika teman med sju subteman och utformade efter studiens frågeställningar samt syfte.  Resultatet påvisade att majoriteten av respondenterna i undersökningen ansåg att negativa recensioner är till hjälp inför deras köpbeslut. Detta gäller vid osäkerhet eller informationsbrist gällandes hotellet. Resultatet visade även att negativ eWOM har en större påverkan på konsumenternas köpbeslut än positiv eWOM.  Majoriteten av respondenterna tyckte att tvåsidig information var en viktig faktor inför deras köpbeslut, samt att recensioner skall vara detaljerade. Den uppfattade trovärdigheten ökade ifall webbplatsen var lättanvänd, allmänt känd och modern. / With regards to the global technological advancements and the effects of both external and internal factors on consumers' decision-making process. Consumers utilize online platforms to convey and to perceive other’s opinions, the act falls under the category electronic word of mouth (eWOM). The aim of this study was to reach a deeper understanding of how negative electronic word of mouth (neWOM) affects consumers' buyer decision process.  The study utilized theories that highlight the following areas: consumer buyer decision process, credibility, electronic word of mouth. With regards to these theories a qualitative research method was applied, and ten semi-structured interviews were carried out. The interview questions were divided into different themes, based on the previously stated theories.  The results indicated that negative reviews are of value for the participants of the study prior to purchasing decisions, especially during situations of insecurity and lack of information. It also showed that neWOM has an effect on their consumer buyer decision process. Their capability to trust certain webpages were based on the popularity, design and the navigational sense of ease or difficulty of the webpage. The results also showed that negative reviews were perceived as more trustworthy by most of the participants.

No description available.

Thesis (DPhill (Social Work))—University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / South Africa has high levels of social need which are steadily growing. While the third sector is large and contributes substantially to social service provision, it together with government is seemingly incapable of providing adequate social services, particularly in the more poverty-stricken rural areas of the country. Among other, at the root of the third sector’s inability to adequately serve the needy, is a lack of funding caused by poor funding policies and uninformed financial resource allocation decision making. As such, this study set out to develop an automated financial resource allocation decision making model that would provide extensive organised data to better inform the allocation decision making process – the first component of the study. It was also purposed to provide a range of otherwise lacking empirical data on the third sector to determine service and staffing norms, patterns of funding and to assess financial management of this sector. In so doing the Community Chest of the Western Cape was selected to serve as the locus of the study – their existing manual allocation approach was analysed and a new more sophisticated automated model was developed. Data generated by the model pointed to a further research need, that of a better understanding of the funding and financial management practices of the third sector. This gave rise to the third component of the study, a survey of 232 beneficiary organisations of the Community Chest. An analysis of the data generated by the model and collected from the survey highlighted yet another need, the poor financial management acumen of the sector. In order to address this need and hence the efficacy of the model, a survey of 207 University of Cape Town management accounting students was conducted to determine the feasibility of using their financial management knowledge and skills to support financially and IT-illiterate organisations – the fourth component of the study. The study primarily adopted a quantitative research paradigm; the research design was exploratory-descriptive and used a primary data design with limited secondary data analysis. Data was captured in MS Access and analysed using Statistica and MS Excel. Results indicated that the country’s funding policies were wanting and that the allocation of state and state-controlled funding agency resources were not being allocated in concert with adopted policy. In almost all cases the poorer rural areas had and received fewer resources. Most organisations surveyed were not financially secured and their ability to fundraise was very limited. Their financial management ability was not good. Fortunately a substantial number of accounting students indicated a willingness to improve the financial management ability of such needy organisations. The study concludes by recommending further development of the model, utilisation of accounting students and calls for a major assessment of third sector needs, its funding and financial management. It also recommends the formulation of new funding policies.

Die vorliegende Arbeit befasst sich mit Innovationsdiffusionsmodellen und deren Anwendung in der Marketingpraxis. Sie hat zwei Ziele: Einen Überblick über existierende Innovationsmodelle zu schaffen und ein neues besseres Modell zu entwickeln. Es wird ein neuer Klassifizierungsansatz vorgeschlagen, mit dessen Hilfe ein strukturierter Überblick über die vorhandenen zahlreichen Innovationsdiffusionsmodelle möglich wird. Die Klassifizierung beruht auf den Annahmen in den Innovationsdiffusionsmodellen. Dies erlaubt im Gegensatz zu den bekannten Klassifizierungen (z.B. von Roberts/Lattin (2000)) die Bildung von disjunkten Modellklassen. Anhand der neuen Klassifizierung werden die prominenten Modelle, wie z.B. Bass-Modell (1969) bzw. Kalish-Modell (1985) eingeordnet und ihre Vor- und Nachteile aufgezeigt. Dieser Ansatz erleichtert eine Entscheidung für das beste zu verwendende Modell, wenn bekannt ist, welche Daten (Absatzdaten, Daten über Konsumenten etc.) zur Verfügung stehen und/oder welches Ziel (Absatzprognose, Preisbestimmung) verfolgt wird. Im zweiten Teil der Arbeit wird ein neues hybrides Innovationsdiffusionsmodell – das Information-Disicion-Evaluation-Modell (IED-Modell) – vorgestellt. Das IED-Modell besitzt zahlreiche Vorteile gegenüber existierenden Innovationsdiffusionsmodellen. Die Struktur des IED-Modells ist sehr allgemein so, dass das IED-Modell als eine Modellklasse bezeichnet werden könnte. Werden die Annahmen des IED-Modells genau definiert (z.B. über die Anzahl der Wettbewerbsprodukte usw.), erhält es eine explizite Form, die prominenten Innovationsdiffusionsmodellen ähnlich oder vollkommen identisch sein kann (für die Erstellung einer expliziten Form des IED-Modells siehe www.ied-modell.de). Ein solcher allgemeiner Modellierungsansatz des IED-Modells ist neu für die Innovationsdiffusionsforschung. Das IED-Modell und dessen Annahmen werden mittels Monte-Carlo-Simulationen analysiert. Beim empirischen Test an realen Daten wird das IED-Modell mit vier renommierten Innovationsdiffusionsmodellen verglichen. Laut diesem Vergleich ist das Anpassungsvermögen des IED-Modells im Durchschnitt besser als das der vier Vergleichsmodelle. Bei drei- und zehnmonatlichen Prognosen zeigte das IED-Modell eine sehr gute Vorhersagefähigkeit. / This work assesses innovation diffusion models and their application in marketing management. Its two principal aims are: (1) to give an overview of existing innovation diffusion models and (2) to develop a new and improved model. A new classification approach is proposed. The classification methodology bases on typical assumptions made in innovation diffusion models. Unlike prior classifications, e.g. Roberts/Lattin (2000), this approach allows for disjunctive classes. By means of this classification renowned models like Bass Model (1969) or Kalish Model (1985) are categorized, and their advantages and disadvantages are analyzed. This helps decide which model should be used depending on data availability (sales data, consumer data etc.) and the overall goal of a model investigation (sales forecast, pricing etc.). In the second part of this work the new hybrid innovation diffusion model – Innovation-Decision-Evaluation model (IED model) – is described. The model has several advantages compared with existing models. The structure of the IED Model is non-specific so that the IED model can be described as a distinct model class. When assumptions of the IED model are specified (e.g. number of competitive products) the model gets an explicit form which can be similar or even identical to other innovation diffusion models (for the design of an explicit model form see also www.ied-modell.de). Such a generalized modeling approach in IED modelling is new in innovation diffusion research. The IED model and its assumptions are analysed with Monte Carlo simulations. Its results are also empirically tested and compared with four renowned innovation diffusion models. The comparison reveals that the IED model has the best average fit and good forecast goodness.

Syftet med studien har varit att undersöka om det är möjligt att tillämpa en beslutsmodell för att lösa ett problem avseende anbudsstrategi vid offentlig upphandling. När ett företag har en kund som omfattas av lagen om offentlig upphandling gäller särskilda regler vid upphandlingar. För ett företag är det viktigt att känna till dessa regler vid inlämning av anbud. Detta är dock oftast inte tillräckligt för att vinna en upphandling, eftersom det då också gäller att deras produkts jämförelsepris är lägre än konkurrenternas. En beslutsmodell, baserad på data från tidigare upphandlingar, har tagits fram för att kunna underbygga ett verktyg gällande anbudsstrategi. Beslutsmodellen är uppbyggd av diverse teorier som beslutsmatris, beslutsträd, lognormal fördelning och förväntat monetärt värde. Tillvägagångssättet har bestått av insamling av information och data via intervjuer, samt andra källor såsom litteratur, artiklar, uppsatser och upphandlingar, där metoden design science har använts. Utifrån en generell beslutsmatris och ett beslutsträd samt beräkningar har beslutsmodellen kunnat tas fram. Beslutsmodellen är i första hand avsedd för att underbygga ett verktyg för företag som är leverantör av eldrivna rullstolar men skulle även kunna appliceras i andra typer av upphandlingar. Beslutsmodellen kan ge stöd till ett verktyg som i sin tur skulle kunna användas av beslutsfattare. Beslutsfattarna får dock inte endast utgå från dess information, som är baserad på tidigare upphandlingar, utan bör också analysera konkurrenternas nutidssituation. Nyckelord: Beslutsmodell, offentlig upphandling, anbudspris, jämförelsepris, beslutsfattare, beslutsmatris, beslutsträd, lognormal fördelning, förväntat monetärt värde / The aim of the study has been to investigate if it is possible to apply a decision model when solving a problem with bidding strategies in public procurement. When a company has costumers comprehended by the laws in public procurement, there are certain rules involved. For a company it is important to be aware about these rules, when setting their bids. Though this is often not enough for a winning procurement, because of the fact that the products comparison prices need to be lower than the competitors'. A decision model, based on data from earlier procurements, has been developed to reinforce a tool with bidding strategies. The decision model is composed by various theories, like decision matrix, decision tree, lognormal distribution and expected monetary value. The procedure through the study has contained data and information acquisition via interviews and other references like literature, articles, thesis and procurements. Based on a general decision matrix and a decision tree, as with calculations, the decision model has been generated. The decision model is mainly designed to reinforce a tool for companies supplying electric wheelchairs to costumers but could also be applicable in other types of procurements. The decision model could be a support when constructing a tool, which consequently could be used by decision makers. The decision makers can however not only adopt the ideas based on earlier procurements. They also need to analyse the competitors’ situations in present time. Keywords: Decision model, public procurement, bidding prices, comparison prices, decision maker, decision matrix, decision tree, lognormal distribution, expected monetary value