Market Segmentation: Conceptual and Methodological Foundations (International Series in Quantitative Marketing)

Book Description

Modern marketing techniques in industrialized countries cannot be implemented without segmentation of the potential market. Goods are no longer produced and sold without a significant consideration of customer needs combined with a recognition that these needs are heterogeneous. Since first emerging in the late 1950s, the concept of segmentation has been one of the most researched topics in the marketing literature. Segmentation has become a central topic to both the theory and practice of marketing, particularly in the recent development of finite mixture models to better identify market segments.
This second edition of Market Segmentation updates and extends the integrated examination of segmentation theory and methodology begun in the first edition. A chapter on mixture model analysis of paired comparison data has been added, together with a new chapter on the pros and cons of the mixture model. The book starts with a framework for considering the various bases and methods available for conducting segmentation studies. The second section contains a more detailed discussion of the methodology for market segmentation, from traditional clustering algorithms to more recent developments in finite mixtures and latent class models. Three types of finite mixture models are discussed in this second section: simple mixtures, mixtures of regressions and mixtures of unfolding models. The third main section is devoted to special topics in market segmentation such as joint segmentation, segmentation using tailored interviewing and segmentation with structural equation models. The fourth part covers four major approaches to applied market segmentation: geo-demographic, lifestyle, response-based, and conjoint analysis. The final concluding section discusses directions for further research.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent book, but delivery is convoluted.......2004-05-19

This is an excellent book for getting a grip on quantitative market segmentation methods. It is a bit murky in places, but definately is one of the more advanced books on the subject.

I recommend it, but with reservation for those who are not up to speed in statistical analysis.

Book Description

There are few industries, if any untouched by global competitive forces. Firms and countries long accustomed to dominance in their respective international markets must now reckon with aggressive and innovative competitors from all corners of the world. As the cross-border flow of people, knowledge, ideas, products, services and management practices accelerates, the notion of home-based advantage is becoming weaker. Unlike their domestic counterparts, firms competing across borders must deal with differences in political, legal, financial, cultural, governance and macroeconomic contexts. These contextual differences shape competition in international strategy and make the study of international strategy more than just a simple extension of classic strategic analysis. Global Strategy deals with the question of how firms can compete in a global environment. Andrew Inkpen and Kannan Ramaswamy examine the issues considered central to the study of strategic management in a global context, such as the nature of global advantage, strategic alliances, competing in emerging markets, international corporate governance, global knowledge management and ethical issues in international business. Much as been written about the relevance of global, regional and domestic strategies to counter competition from overseas and as a means to enter foreign markets. However, lobal Strategy takes a broader view, organizing itself around a set of strategic management issues that arise specifically because a firm is international. While there is obviously some overlap between domestic strategic management and global strategic management, it is Inkpen and Ramaswamy's contention that the differences between domestic and global strategy warrant specific attention. By integrating academic research with practical examples and case studies, they inform students and managers of global business about a diverse set of important strategic issues.

Global Strategy : Creating and Sustaining Advantage across Borders (Strategic Management Series)

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Global Strategy : Creating and Sustaining Advantage across Borders (Strategic Management Series)
Andrew Inkpen
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OKLRAI

Book Description

What is the contribution of organic agriculture to sustainable development? What issues should be addressed by policies? What are governments doing and how effective have their actions been? This book examines these issues. It is based on papers presented at an OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) workshop held in September 2002 in Washington DC.

Organic Agriculture; Sustainability, Markets, and Policies; Proceedings.

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Organic Agriculture; Sustainability, Markets, and Policies; Proceedings.
Oecd Workshop On Organic Agriculture (2002: Washington Dc)
Manufacturer: OECD
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000Q039CU

Customer Reviews:

A collection of essays related to gnosticism.......2007-07-13

I think this is an OK introductory book to gnosticism with its collection of essays from various contributors. Sure gives some food for thought. There is a short article of the Nag Hammadi discovery included in it, and a few articles about Buddhism's relation to Gnosticism, but I liked especially Murray Stein's psychological view to the Gospel of Truth.

If you find this book interesting, you could take a look at the "Psychological Insight into the Bible: Texts and Readings", as well...

A useful and thought-provoking series of essays.......2001-02-01

Books on "gnosticism" often tend either to be in the academic stratosphere, or full of new age sensationalism. This volume is very useful in that it presents a variety of interesting viewpoints from (mostly) recognized scholars in the field. It's quite accessible and the closing chapter on modern gnostic revivals is of particular import for those seeking to comprehend the continued draw this ancient philosophy -- as radical or paranoid it may be -- exerts upon some elements of our society today. (I adopted this for use in an undergraduate course on gnosticism I teach.)

Book Description

Built around careful and illuminating case studies of the effects of devolution policies on the management of forests in several Asian countries, the studies demonstrate that, contrary to the aim of such policies, they increased governmental control over the management of local resources, and at lower cost. They also show that if genuine control is to be exercised by local resource users for their livelihoods, more has to be done to take their needs into account and to diversify the range of interests represented and the opportunities for creating livelihoods from the local resources.

Local forest management : the impacts of devolution policies

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Local forest management : the impacts of devolution policies

Manufacturer: Earthscan Publications Ltd.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000H60AJI

Product Description

Expanded and updated 2nd edition of the book that covers the history and development of the modern derailleur bicycleand the gadget that makes it tick: the derailleur gearing mechanism. The Dancing Chain picks up where other bicycle history books leave off: at the introduction of multiple-speed gearing mechanisms at the beginning of the 20th century. 384 pages of text with 1,200 black & white illustrations, including many new Daniel Rebour drawings never before published in any English-language publications.

Customer Reviews:

jimmy thinks.......2007-01-16

Fantastic book by legend Frank Berto. Super detailed and fascinating history of all derailleur systems. Definitely worth the price!

The Ultimate Book for Bike Geeks!.......2007-01-10

Frank Berto's 'The Dancing Chain' is a fascinating, exhaustively-researched look at the evolution of the bicycle. Starting with the high- wheeled bikes of Victorian times, the author shows how the development of the multi-geared drivetrain made the bicycle more versatile & practical for everyday use. Most interesting to me is that many modern "innovations" (indexed shifting, epicyclic hubs, auto-shifting)were actually in use nearly 100 years ago! Lavishly illustrated (including many line drawings by the famed Daniel Rebour), the book also covers how these changes affected the evolution of bicycle racing & touring. Highly reccomended!

Focuses especially upon the past 100 years.......2005-06-12

Now in an updated and expanded second edition, The Dancing Chain is the in-depth story of the history and development of the Derailleur Bicycle. The Dancing Chain offers the culmination of 10 years of research - 5 poured into the first edition, and now another 5 into the second, and focuses especially upon the past 100 years. Black-and-white photographs and illustrations reveal how bicycles adapted to the challenges of traveling faster on level ground and climbing better uphill. The Dancing Chain does not shy from technical detail, yet remains informatively accessible to the lay reader making it a fascinating resource for leisure reading, as well as hard research for academia. Highly recommended for bicycle enthusiasts and historians alike.

The Dancing Chain by Frank Berto.......2001-06-19

The Dancing Chain by Frank Berto dvanhook 06/18/01 01:48 pm EDT rating:

An invaluable reference document for vintage bicycle enthusiasts! It is well and thoroughly researched and fully illustrated with photographs and beautiful line drawings of bicycles and bicycle parts as they have developed over the past one hundred years. It also contains a many helpful and interesting graphs and charts. This beautiful book is as complete and authoritative as is possible, but is very readable even for those with no technical background. It is certain to become a collectors item and was published as a very limited edition.

Great Book for Bike Nuts.......2000-11-02

I am very glad I purchased this book. This book involves much more about the history of bicycles than the title may lead you to believe.

Customer Reviews:

First word I looked up not there!.......2002-09-13

Disingenuous/adj. having secret motives; insincere...
The first word I looked up (to check the spelling). I don't look too many up, but when I do I expect to find them. This one was not there. And I only have a high school diploma. Guess they use smaller words in the college where this dictionary is handy. Maybe in the fourth edition...

Very complete for a paperback.......2000-05-02

Among paperback dictionaries, the NAWHCD excels in its completeness and its usage guidance. I appreciate those features in my big American Heritage Dictionary, too, but the NAWHCD is more convenient to keep on my desk, and I like having two different dictionaries so I can get a second opinion.

Virtually every page in the NAWHCD has helpful notes on usage or word origin. Correct usage is generally favored over popular usage, e.g., "imply" and "infer" are distinguished without waffling. "Lay" and "lie" and their often-confused past tenses and participles are sorted out in a note, and now that I know the differences I'm annoyed by how many people don't.

I examined several paperback dictionaries before selecting this one even though it didn't have a top brand name. The more I use it, the more I like it.

Amazon.com

Jill Jonnes's compelling Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and the Race to Electrify the World offers a multi-sided tale of America's turn-of-the-20th-century quest for cheap, reliable electrical power. Along the way, the book profiles key personalities in both the science and industry of electrification and dramatizes the transformation of American society that accompanied the technological revolution. As her sub-title suggests, Jonnes's focus is on the three great personalities behind the building of the electricity industry. But, as she makes clear, the electrification of America was much more than a pathbreaking scientific quest. The genius of such poet-scientists as Nikola Tesla depended on the more finely tuned business skills of George Westinghouse and the towering capital of J.P. Morgan to achieve actualization. And even Thomas Edison and Westinghouse--innovative industrial combatants in the war between AC and DC current--were victims of the far more powerful and conservative financial forces of Wall Street. Indeed, for Jonnes, the story of electricity is as much about the legions of patent attorneys and bankers who controlled the flow of industry as it is about the circulation of current. Her sophisticated portrait of Gilded Age science, business, and society brings new light to the forces that underlie technological revolutions. As she reveals, it is not so much the great public men of science who directed the destiny of America's eventual empire of light; rather, the path was solidified by those men behind the scenes who were wise enough (and perhaps ruthless enough) to impose their legal, financial, and political dominance onto the scientific innovation--a valuable message for all eras. --Patrick O'Kelley

Book Description

In the final decades of the nineteenth century, three brilliant and visionary titans of America’s Gilded Age—Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, and George Westinghouse—battled bitterly as each vied to create a vast and powerful electrical empire. In Empires of Light, historian Jill Jonnes portrays this extraordinary trio and their riveting and ruthless world of cutting-edge science, invention, intrigue, money, death, and hard-eyed Wall Street millionaires. At the heart of the story are Thomas Alva Edison, the nation’s most famous and folksy inventor, creator of the incandescent light bulb and mastermind of the world’s first direct current electrical light networks; the Serbian wizard of invention Nikola Tesla, elegant, highly eccentric, a dreamer who revolutionized the generation and delivery of electricity; and the charismatic George Westinghouse, Pittsburgh inventor and tough corporate entrepreneur, an industrial idealist who in the era of gaslight imagined a world powered by cheap and plentiful electricity and worked heart and soul to create it.

Edison struggled to introduce his radical new direct current (DC) technology into the hurly-burly of New York City as Tesla and Westinghouse challenged his dominance with their alternating current (AC), thus setting the stage for one of the eeriest feuds in American corporate history, the War of the Electric Currents. The battlegrounds: Wall Street, the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, Niagara Falls, and, finally, the death chamber—Jonnes takes us on the tense walk down a prison hallway and into the sunlit room where William Kemmler, convicted ax murderer, became the first man to die in the electric chair.

Empires of Light is the gripping history of electricity, the “mysterious fluid,” and how the fateful collision of Edison, Tesla, and Westinghouse left the world utterly transformed.

From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews:

Great read - .......2007-10-08

This was a great piece of narrative non-fiction - great for anyone who loves nerdy stuff or Wall Street - either story (both well told) are fascinating -

So Good They Should Make It a Movie.......2007-03-22

This book is so good they could make it into a movie. I've worked for an electrical power utility for over 38 years and I'm a history buff so this was a double pleasure for me. Jill Jonnes gives us a fascinating look at the origins of electrical power in the U.S.

There is something here for everyone: the macabre account of the first execution by electrocution, and the equally gut-wrenching story of the lineman in New York who died a horrible death dangling from high-voltage wires forty feet above the pavement. His body burned and spewed blood while the frightened onlookers could do nothing to save him. Then there is the inspiring story of Edison, Westinghouse and Tesla, the three who get the most credit for advancing and solidifying electrical power as a viable business in the U.S. Whether they were "geniuses" or not is a matter of your own perspective. They were certainly workaholics who had extraordinary intelligence and vision about what could be done with new technology. (Edison once worked five days straight while inventing the phonograph.)

There was a great battle between alternating and direct current. Edison stubbornly fought AC all the way. He felt it was unsafe for use by the general public because of the danger of lethal electric shock. He bragged that with his DC system, anyone would survive accidental contact, although the proponents of AC led by Westinghouse countered with the fact that Edison's DC system had caused many fires, both in customers' houses and in the central generating plants. The author points out that Edison may have had another reason, his own pride. Anyone in the business at that time could see the obvious advantage of AC over DC. DC was limited to about a one-mile radius of the generator, where AC could be transmitted several miles by stepping voltage up or down as needed with Westinghouse's new transformers. And once Tesla's AC two-phase motor was developed for commercial use, Edison's DC system was doomed.

Tesla turned into a sort of benevolent mad scientist after the Niagara project--Dr. Frankenstein with his gigantic Tesla coils, shooting lightning into the atmosphere. At one point his lab pulled so much power he caused the Colorado Springs powerhouse to trip off line, throwing the entire area into a blackout. Tesla's visionary dream, apparently, was to develop a means of transmitting power wirelessly. All humanity could tap into the standing wave generated by the Tesla coils, or whatever, and thereby receive free electricity. Tesla naturally needed huge financial support for this and he turned to J.P. Morgan who had financed the Niagara project and many other large ventures. But Morgan had seen too many of Tesla's projects come to naught, so he declined to back any more of them. Among Tesla's many experiments were the fluorescent light and the radio transmitter-receiver, the later being carried forward by Marconi who may have purloined some of Tesla's patents.

Two great projects did the most to advance electric power: the 1893 Columbia Exposition in Chicago, and the Niagara Falls hydro-generator plant. Tesla and Westinghouse were the brains and brawn behind the Niagara project completed in 1895, and it was Westinghouse who got the contract to light up the Chicago World's Fair. In 1893 only the wealthiest Americans could enjoy the advantages of electric light. The fair, known as the White City, showed all Americans the marvels of electrical light and appliances.

The advent of electrical power in the U.S. was a struggle of hard-driven men plowing new ground against constant financial and legal setbacks, the intrigues and subterfuge of their competitors, and the race forward with a technology that was only barely understood at the time. But once it took hold it spread like wildfire as almost everyone, rich or poor, wanted to convert to electric. Indeed, the success of America in WW II, the great arsenal of democracy, was due in large part to the fact that by 1940 cheap electrical power was available in every part of the country, even the desert of New Mexico.

The perfect book for the early history of electrical technology.......2007-03-10

This was exactly what I wanted, the history and description of how the early implementation, financing and design happened. I hate when we get an autobiography of the inventer's life and not a detailed description of how they developed the technology and what mistakes and breakthoughs the inventer got. This book is fantastic.

More Adjectives?.......2007-03-06

More description always makes books longer, but it does not always make them better. This is the first lesson I learned from Empires of Light: save the details for when they can be truly useful. Jill Jonnes writes like a historian who just finished an intro-to-composition course; however, for this book she probably should have spent more time with aspiring electricians at her local trade school. A book about "the race to electrify the world" would better benefit from its author knowing too much about electricity than from her ability to generate great varieties of adjectives for the same basic subjects--Nikola Tesla is always elegant and awkward, the weather is either oppressively hot or frigidly cold, and the men's Gilded Age facial hair is always worthy of description. Jonnes even repeats some of the same proper descriptions chapter after chapter, as if some readers might read the book as a collection of essays--George Westinghouse travels in "Glen Eyre, his private railcar" and Tesla dines at "Delmonico's, America's most famous restaurant." On the other hand, I found myself wondering about the basic voltage equals current times resistance (V=IR) electricity equation: was Jonnes avoiding it because the inventors of electricity didn't understand it yet, or did she just not think it was important to her readers' understanding of the subject?

There may not be any better books available on this subject, but Jonnes does neither the Gilded Age nor the birth of electrification justice. This book would benefit either by being edited to half its length or expanded to improve the social and technical context; as written, it's a lukewarm offering which I give three stars.

Enlightenment.......2007-01-09

Jill Jonnes has put together a well written and entertaining story of three men for the ages. Most of us have heard of T. A. Edison and have a certain familiarity with his many achievments. Jonnes gives us a view of him that is both interesting and novel. Her bios of Westinghouse and Tesla are a piece of American history that we all should know. Buy it, I think you will like it.

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