The paper examines the problem of forecasting ongoing factory orders and monitoring retail demand, with speci®c reference to high-technology consumer durables. We present evidence of the managerial importance of the problem and, using a case study of a computer peripheral manufacturer, we describe how di€erent data sources and models can be used to increase prediction accuracy. First we examine...

— Small-scale assemblers are both the most vilified and least understood actors in food value chains in Sub-Saharan Africa. Drawing on data from Kenya, Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique, this article explores how maize assemblers influence the market access conditions of small-scale farmers. Assembly markets for maize are found to be highly competitive in terms of the number of traders operating a...

The complexities of mechanical ventilators have been chronicled in these pages over the last few decades as investigators and manufacturers have searched for improved outcomes and competitive advantage. On several occasions I have had the privilege of writing about the current state of the art and the promise of closed-loop mechanical ventilation.1–3 While new modes of mechanical ventilation ha...

The impact of the internet on inter-firm relationships has received little attention in the academic literature. This theory building research develops a conceptual framework about internet-facilitated relationships based on the literature and research findings from convergent interviews. The convergent interviews were conducted with CEOs and/or marketing managers of 10 Australian service compa...

This flash examines trends in market participation by smallholder farmers in rural central and northern Mozambique between 2008, when prices of many commodities rose to previously unseen levels, and 2011. Using panel data for 2008 and 2011, the analysis describes marketing dynamics – entry, exit, and persistence of participation, and the trends in marketing intensity associated with those dynam...

With the increasing number of competing mobile services, the process of acquiring new, and retaining existing customers becomes harder. Acquisition of new customers can, to some degree, be done with increased marketing efforts, but marketing has less effect for retaining existing customers, since they allready know the service. Improving the mobile service is likely to be the best way to retain...

A basic tenet in modeling preference behavior is that individuals differ in the ways they perceive and evaluate choice options. Latent-class analysis provides a parsimonious and flexible approach to represent these taste differences. This method decomposes a heterogeneous population of decision-makers into several homogeneous classes or subpopulations. Each decision-maker is assigned to one of ...

We compare the impact of alternative domestic and global trade liberalization scenarios on five economies in Southern Africa. The study applies a computable general equilibrium model that employs standardised 12-sector social accounting matrices for Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The approach incorporates stylised features such as own-household consumption and marketing mar...