Comparison of first-year student conceptions of their future roles as engineers between Belgium, Ireland, and The Netherlands

Recent research by KU Leuven showed that 33% of the engineering graduates in Flanders changed jobs in the first year, with 60% of those citing job content as a reason. Also, industry often reports that recent graduate hires lack the right skills for the job. It appears that students seem to enter the labour market less prepared both in perception and skill level. This study investigates the perceptions of first-year students on their future role and the competencies they need by developing an engineering role model on the business model of Tracey and Wiersema. The premise of the PREFER-model is that most vacancies for junior engineers fall into one of three roles: Product Leadership (i.e., focus on radical innovation), Operational Excellence (i.e., focus on process optimization), and Customer Intimacy (i.e., focus on client-tailored solutions). A survey was administered to first-year students from the three largest engineering degrees in Belgium, Ireland, and the Netherlands. A total of 197 students in Belgium (KU Leuven – Engineering Technology), 89 students in Ireland (TU Dublin – Engineering), and 372 students in the Netherlands (TU Delft – Aerospace Engineering) participated. In this survey, students were also asked to express their preference for three fictional job vacancies reflecting the three different roles. The results showed that first-year students do not have a clear view of the future and have an idealized perception of the engineering profession centred around the Product Leadership role. Students were also found to overestimate their level of preparedness when it comes to their mastery of competencies. It is suggested that having a discerning professional roles model as well as instruments that allow students to assess their role alignment and associated role competencies will help mitigate these issues.

Retail Supply Chain Management Trends

Improving the organization's performance and securing competitive advantage over others greatly depends on the supply chain management as it is seen that the competition is no longer between the organizations, rather they are amongst supply chains. This study is based on collecting the information and data about the supply chain management from 60 retail organizations. This study will show the aspects of supply chain management in the retail domain highlighting the challenges, capabilities and the priorities for the next 2-3 years. As retailers choose to concentrate either on product leadership private-label or high touch customer intimacy or on cost leadership strategies, their supply chain priorities and investment decisions are tailored to the specific requirements. While retail is extremely diverse, but retailers across the globe share many priorities — balance the availability of the inventory; control the costs and customer service in order to maintain the retail strategy. Our effort has been to explore how retailers are managing these priorities and getting ready for future.

Analisis Strategi Soar Pt. Xyz Dalam Meningkatkan Penjualan Bahan Baku Kimia Untuk Industri Tekstil, Kayu, Pakaian Dan Deterjen

PT. XYZ is a private multinational company engaged in chemical type commodities trading with sodium sulphate, sodium carbonate and hydrogen peroxide – three of the most common chemicals used in textile, pulp & paper and detergent industry – as their main traded commodities. However, due to many opportunities available and the company’s experience as an international trader, marketing plan should not be ignored especially when the company is still relatively new as a supplier. Based on last year sales revenue alone, PT. XYZ placed third among four other companies, placing PT. XYZ as a market follower and thus needed to formulate an offensive strategy to achieve higher sales. The method used in this study is by using SOAR tool instead of SWOT analysis and translated into Treacy and Wiersema’s value disciplines. consisted of three strategies, i.e. operational excellence, customer intimacy and product leadership. The study found that there is a need for the company to use a combined strategy of operational excellence and customer intimacy.

Consumer Attitudes Towards Imported Canned Coffee Beverages in Riau Province, Indonesia

As the second largest traded product in the world, coffee has high potential and competitive market. Product excellence and competitiveness in the minds of consumers will determine product leadership. For coffee products, it is necessary to know the criteria that are in accordance with the characteristics and culture of Indonesian consumers. In this chapter, input stimulus variables that determine consumer behavior are viewed from the marketing mix aspects. These attributes were then analyzed using a Participatory Prospective Analysis to identify the position of the driving factors in influencing consumer attitudes. The results showed that the driving variables for consumer attitude towards consuming imported canned coffee drinks were affordable price, packaging, flavor, reference source, and availability. These attributes were located in the upper-left quadrant which shows strong influence and low-dependence between the attributes. Recommended alternative marketing strategies are institutional strengthening of marketing/distribution and development of marketing mix.

PENERAPAN VALUE DISCIPLINE STRATEGY PADA BANK KALTIM CABANG TANA PASER

Bank Daerah saat ini diharapkan mampu bersaing dengan bank-bank swasta dalam meningkatkan kualitas taraf hidup masyarakat, selain untuk dapat menghimpun dana masyarakat di daerah tersebut. Bank Kaltim Cabang Tana Paser yang merupakan bank daerah di Kabupaten Tana Paser terus berupaya untuk memberikan layanan terbaik kepada nasabahnya dalam bentuk pelayanan produk dan jasa. Sesuai dengan visinya “Menjadi The True Regional Champion yang Kuat, Kompetitif dan Kontributif dalam mendukung pertumbuhan ekonomi daerah yang berkualitas”, Bank Kaltim Cabang Tana Paser membutuhkan suatu strategi bisnis untuk mencapai visi tersebut yaitu dengan menggunakan Value Discipline Strategy. Value discipline strategy atau bisa disebut disiplin nilai pertama kali dikemukakan oleh seorang presiden dari perusahaan Treacy yaitu Michael Treacy dan Fred Wierseam. Pada dasarnya, teori ini menekankan pentingnya identifikasi terhadap segmen pasar (market segment). Menurut pand angan ini, ada tiga segmen generik, diantaranya adalah Operational Excellence,Product Leadership,Customer Intimacy. Untuk dapat menentukan jenis strategi yang tepat, maka dibutuhkan suatu analisis baik dari faktor eksternal dan internal. Setelah dilakukan analisis dapat disimpulkan bahwa jenis strategi yang tepat untuk diterapkan adalah Customer Intimacy dimana pada jenis strategi ini Bank Kaltim Cabang Tana Paserdifokuskan pada pendekatan terhadap nasabah.

Becoming a Hidden Champion: From Selective use of Customer Intimacy and Product Leadership to Business Attractiveness

This paper sheds light on factors that support SMEs becoming market leaders on an international scale. Specifically, it studies the hidden champion type of companies, defined as SMEs that hold market leadership in narrow business segments on a regional or wider international scale. The market positioning of hidden champions is defined subjectively by CEOs in such a way that they create a high level of business attractiveness. This explorative study reveals that product leadership and customer intimacy are two blocks that build the business attractiveness of hidden champions. More specifically, the study on data from 93 niche leaders from Central and Eastern Europe showed that product leadership negatively moderates the business attractiveness-performance relationship, while the impact of the combination of product leadership and customer intimacy on the business attractiveness-firm performance relationship is not straightforward and depends on different combinations of these values.

A Manager-Customer Empirical Investigation Of The Subjective Performance Of Proactive Market-Oriented Consumer Goods Companies: Testing A Double-Mediation Model

This study investigates the mediating role of perceived branded product leadership and perceived customer value in the relationship between of proactive market orientation on performance (corporate reputation) in a consumer goods setting. A manager-customer approach is adopted: data was collected from 146 managers from 55 companies, and 425 customers that purchased their branded products. Results show that companies that practice a high level of proactive market orientation are perceived as leaders, which leads to higher levels of customer perceived value of their branded products and enhanced reputation. This research adds to the existing literature in considering customers’ perceptual assessments.

THE POWER OF PRODUCT LEADERSHIP IN GENERATING CUSTOMERS’ INTENTIONS TO BUY: THE CASE OF DAGADU

Marketing products is frequently not easy. Besides the need for brands and/or products to be recognized by consumers, they must be prominent among the other brands and/or products, which hopefully in turn will develop an interest in them and the intention to buy. The prominent brands and/or products usually become so because they comprise of a number of factors, such as good quality, good design, and good customer value. In addition, the performances of thebrands and/or products really meet the consumers’ expectations, and conform to the consumers perceptions of them. While the consumers’ intentions to buy are generally generated by their attitudes and subjective norms, the purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of product leadership in producing the customers’ intention to buy through the customers’ perception of value and quality. Data were acquired from a sample which consisted of 100 respondents who were interested in and wanted to buy Dagadu T-shirts. The sample itself was withdrawn by using the judgment method. The data were then analyzed using Amos 5.0 and SPSS 16.0. The result showed that product leadership affected consumers’ perception of value and quality, which sequentially generated the consumers’ intention to buy through the consumers’ attitude and subjective norm.Keywords: product leadership, perceived quality, perceived value, intention to buy

Retail Supply Chain Management Trends

Improving the organization's performance and securing competitive advantage over others greatly depends on the supply chain management as it is seen that the competition is no longer between the organizations, rather they are amongst supply chains. This study is based on collecting the information and data about the supply chain management from 60 retail organizations. This study will show the aspects of supply chain management in the retail domain highlighting the challenges, capabilities and the priorities for the next 2-3 years. As retailers choose to concentrate either on product leadership private-label or high touch customer intimacy or on cost leadership strategies, their supply chain priorities and investment decisions are tailored to the specific requirements. While retail is extremely diverse, but retailers across the globe share many priorities — balance the availability of the inventory; control the costs and customer service in order to maintain the retail strategy. Our effort has been to explore how retailers are managing these priorities and getting ready for future.