In business-to-business marketing, account relationships are essential to long-term success. Key account programs give companies the opportunity to contact their customers at regular intervals and build relationships. To manage the process effectively, it is important to take a long-term view of the relationship, rather than focusing on short-term goals. It...
This paper evolved from the mixed results shown in the reviewed forecasting literature and from the lack of sufficient forecasting research dealing with micro data. The main purpose of this paper is to investigate and compare the accuracy of different quantitative and qualitative forecasting techniques, and to recommend a forecasting...
Innovation and new product development are critical to firm success and are often cited as means to a sustained competitive advantage. Unfortunately, the question of which innovation programs to pursue and how they should be funded is not trivial. This paper examines the resource allocation and portfolio problem. Special emphasis...
Many business owners find it difficult to provide feedback to an employee who isn't performing quite as well as expected. It is frequently difficult to stay focused on providing constructive criticism that, hopefully, will lead the employee to improve. There might be a temptation to avoid putting yourself in a...
In this paper, we use Schumpeterian growth theory, where growth comes from quality-improving innovations, to elaborate a theory of growth policy and to explain the growth gap between Europe and the US. Our theoretical apparatus systematizes the case-by-case approach to growth policy design. The emphasis is on three policy areas...
Organizations face many challenges in attempting to improve the performance of their finance and accounting operations. The pursuit of the elusive and often nebulous "Transformation" goal is very difficult while simultaneously reducing costs and ensuring adequate regulatory compliance levels. Organizations have many tools as their disposal to pursue these efforts....
Organisations in emerging economies are facing their toughest competition ever and they continually strive to retain customers by outperforming their competitors. Emphasis is placed on becoming more market centred, becoming more global and/or local and to decentralise. To achieve the above, organisations in developing countries, such as South Africa may...
This paper presents a broad cross-country historical study of deflation over the past two centuries in order to shed light on current policy challenges. It first reviews the theoretical literature on deflation. It then characterizes deflation by distinguishing among the "good, the bad and the ugly" ones - considering both...
The article presents investigations into the mechanism of continuity loss of textile linear products. A method and tools for implementing it have been developed with the aim of investigating loose textile products, and determining the causes of their destruction. Special emphasis is placed on the usability of the procedure we...
During 2004/2005 the IEA secretariat will conduct a comparative analysis of electricity sector reforms in selected OECD countries. This is a working document to be used as input for the broader analysis to come. The main purpose of this document is to extract important facts about the reforms in the...
In the context of cost saving pressure at electric utilities the requirements on information's quality about physical asset are increasing. This paper presents an online monitoring system and the paradigm of their integration in a comprehensive Asset Management System. It will be described a system of presently installed monitoring units,...
This article provides guidance on project management techniques in different agencies. The emphasis is on technology projects and the important principles underlined in this article apply to any type of project. While some have formal training, many project mangers learn by doing. This article presents some practical insight and a...
Recent trends in structure and content of global knowledge spaces present new challenges to the field of Knowledge Discovery. Very large, highly structured repositories are increasingly replacing smaller, flat information spaces. Such repositories are often filled with multimedia documents, including image, audio and video data. This paper briefly outlines the...
Most start-up organizations face the tough challenge of establishing themselves. The main emphasis is on collaboration with big companies in order to create a base for the start-up company. The competition factor usually comes in when the company has firmly established a foothold. The paper deals with the question of...
This white paper document explains the basic concept of linear asset management and maintenance of assets within a network. The core emphasis is on the modeling of assets and their maintenance requirements. The solution presented by Oracle and Exor Corp. addresses the maintenance aspects of linear assets within a network.
There are different types of conflicts, domestic, political, religious and ideological. The latter are shown to be based on a community's identity and deeply entrenched belief systems that flow from the collective narratives of groups of people. Conflicts are analysed in terms of contrary belief systems. A strategy for the...
This International Standard has been prepared based on ISO 14224:1999, experience gained through its use, and know-how and best practices shared through the international development process of this revised standard. In the petroleum, natural gas and petrochemical industries, great attention is being paid to safety, reliability and maintainability of equipment....
This report provides an overview of digital hospitals in the United States. The scope of research includes both new digital hospitals and hospitals that are transforming specific processes or departments using an innovative technological approach. Emphasis has been placed on documenting the results of existing efforts and capturing the lessons...
Concentration of light negative ions in the atmosphere has a favorable influence on the human health. For better exactness of measurement of ion fields concentration in living and working rooms and for elimination of the influence of a servicing person an automatic measurement device has been designed and completed exploiting...
The government agencies that are concerned with development activities at the macro level, particularly the National Economic and Social Development Board, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Interior, should place more proactive emphasis on disaster prevention, as opposed to the reactive provision of post-disaster...
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