LEAN MANUFACTURING vs COVID-19

During the COVID-19 pandemic, companies coped and still must deal with uncertainty greater than ever. Due to the unpredictability of consumer demand, the incredible growth in demand for certain products, dramatic fluctuations in supply chains, and general economic instability, the future still looks uncertain. It is up to the manufacturers to determine how things will be sorted out in the new normality, i.e., which changes will be long-lasting or even permanent. Lean production has emerged in recent decades as an excellent solution to increase the economy and quality of production and meet customer needs. In the market conditions affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, producers work in a significantly changed environment, and many wonder whether lean production remains as relevant and valuable as in the past. The paper discusses lean production from different aspects as the essence of the principles of the lean concept, events during the pandemic, and expectations in the post-Covid period. We used some examples to support the analysis of factors that negatively affect the course of lean production as well as some bright examples of companies that took advantage of lean production in the new conditions. The conclusions consider answer whether lean production will survive the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.

An Iterative Design Method from Products to Product Service Systems—Combining Acceptability and Sustainability for Manufacturing SMEs

Manufacturing small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a crucial role in the economic development and resource consumption of most regions. Conceptually, a product-service system (PSS) can be an effective way to improve the sustainability of manufacturing SMEs. However, the construction of PSSs requires enterprises to integrate a large number of product and service resources. Moreover, current PSS design methods mostly construct a new set of highly service-oriented PSS solutions based on customer needs while seldom considering the combination of acceptability and sustainability for manufacturing SMEs at the initial stage of design, which may lead to the difficulties in applying PSS solutions beyond enterprise integration capacity or result in the waste of existing product resources. Instead of constructing a new PSS solution, this paper proposes the treatment of existing product modules as the original system. The PSS solution is iteratively constructed with the upgrade of the original system in a gradual way, which is driven by systematic performance (this process can be suspended and repeated). Phased iterative design solutions can be applied by manufacturing SMEs according to their development needs. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP), Lean Design-for-X (LDfX), design structure matrix (DSM), and Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC) are combined in an iterative design process from customer needs and system performances to PSS solutions. The feasibility of the proposed method is verified through the iterative design case from electric pallet trucks to warehousing systems. It is proved that this method is more sustainable and easier to be accepted by manufacturing SMEs than existing PSS design methods through in-depth interviews with entrepreneurs.

Digital Detox, Trends, and Segmentation in Tourism

The chapter aims to demonstrate the growing importance of the concept of 'digital detox' as a segment of the tourism market to indicate the reasons and factors that encourage its demand, the diversity of establishments, the strategies employed by them, the limits, facilitating the adaptation to market conditions, and assisting in the development of marketing strategies that respond to customer needs. Through a content analysis of some research papers from the last 10 years and websites, as well as an interview with the founder from one of the establishments specialized in “disconnection with technologies” experiences, the “Offline House,” this study presents inputs on marketing (digital), tourism (niches), and consumer behavior.

Perancangan Aplikasi Pendataan Pelanggan pada Perusahaan PT. Indomobil Trada Nasional

PT Indomobil Sukses International Tbk. (The Company) is the main company of the automotive group of companies. This company has many well-known automotive subsidiaries in Indonesia. This automotive company attaches great importance to products to meet customer needs and satisfaction. Guaranteed quality standards are the company's principle by supporting after-sales service in the 3S network (Sales, Service, and Spare parts) that already exist throughout Indonesia. The target of this company's business process must optimize customer data so that the company's target is not difficult to achieve in order to compete with other companies that have used computerized systems. Based on the description, the theme of research on designing customer data collection applications at PT. Indomobil Trada Nasional.

Product Brokering Efficiency as a mediator of Online Product Recommendation and Customer Loyalty

Marketing strategies in e-commerce have a main goal, that is to pursue customer loyalty. Sociolla is an e-commerce company that sells cosmetic products and has a recommendation feature to make it easier for customers during the shopping process. These recommendations can trigger customer satisfaction and generate loyalty. The purpose of this study was to examine the correlation between online product recommendation and customer loyalty with product brokering efficiency as a mediator. 179 Sociolla customers were recruited in this study using convenience sampling. The data were analyzed using the SPSS-Process Hayes model 4. Results showed that perceived decision quality acts as a mediator in the relationship between enablers and customer loyalty (β = .20, [ .13; .27]). It can be concluded that recommendations that are comprehensive, clear, and meet the customer needs will make it easier for customers to make purchasing decisions, which ultimately leads the customers to form loyalty toward the products.

Analysis of Business Decisions that caused Nokia to drop its Legacy and its Rebirth in 2017 using Nostalgic Marketing Approach: A Case Study

Purpose: This article will investigate the causes for Nokia’s failure to stay afloat in the market, as well as how the company resurrected in 2017 by employing a nostalgic or sentimental marketing strategy. Technology management on a strategic level at Nokia Corporation is thoroughly examined and analyzed in this study. Nokia used to be the market’s dominant corporation, leader, and pacesetter until it had a massive market disaster. We inferred that the problem at Nokia was not the absenteeism of advancement, but in its place, it was due to a lack of innovation estimation and a misunderstanding that the requirements in the mobile phone market were not only about displaying a cell phone that makes verdicts, sends messages, and connects to the internet, but also the stage that connects all of these volumes together. Finally, this article describes how Nokia’s revival was achieved through the use of a nostalgic or sentimental marketing strategy. Objectives: We aim to present the reasons behind the failure of Nokia and its return using Nostalgic marketing approach to do a comparison analysis with its competitors and make recommendations to improve the company based on the findings Design/Methodology/Approach: Journals, as well as a variety of internet resources such as websites and blogs, were used to conduct this company analysis. A SWOC Analysis was used to analyses the Nokia corporation. Findings/Result: Till 2008 Nokia was the pioneer in the mobile phone market. Based on the study done it’s clear that Nokia failed to acquire smart phone market because Nokia couldn’t recognize the customer needs, didn’t Analyze the Market Accurately and also lack of implementing innovative technology in its product which customer needs. Nokia was focusing on implementing traditional Symbian operating system to its smart phone but Samsung choose android as its operating systems for its smartphone at the right time, which met the customer requirements. In 2017 Nokia came with nostalgic marketing approach by re-creating its old Nokia 3310 handset with modern features such Bluetooth, GPS, Wifi. Originality/Value: Based on data from secondary sources, this article investigates the reasons why Nokia failed to gain access to the smartphone market, and explores its comeback through nostalgic marketing strategies. Paper Type: Research Case Study.

Modeling the Empowerment Mechanism of Knowledge Collaboration from the Perspective of Platform Affordances

In the digital economy era, knowledge platforms have both the functions of knowledge collaboration and social media. At the same time, how to promote knowledge collaboration through platform empowerment is getting more and more attention. Since there are few types of research on how to realize the micromechanism of platform empowerment, the purpose of this paper is to take knowledge platforms as an example to study the conceptual system of platform affordances based on the social-technical perspective. Through the theoretical integration of technological empowerment and authorization empowerment, this paper provides new perspectives and future themes for explaining the platform empowerment mechanism of knowledge collaboration. As for the method, the deductive research approach is adopted in this paper. First, through the critical literature review, the gaps in platform empowerment research have been identified. Second, from the analysis of the characteristics of knowledge platforms such as Wukong Q&A and Zhihu, the relationship between platform affordances, platform organizational characteristics, and customer needs has been explored. In the final, according to knowledge platform characteristics, the conceptual system of platform affordances has been deduced. The result shows that through integrating organizational theory, knowledge management theory, and platform ecological viewpoints, the main components of the affordances of knowledge platforms have been summarized. In addition, the relevance of those components to the functions, interfaces and rules of the platform system has been illustrated, and the corresponding relationship between the affordances of the platform and the main components of authorization empowerment has been established. With regard to the implication of this study, it establishes the theoretical connection between technological empowerment and authorization empowerment and provides a more intuitive and operable method for platform empowerment of knowledge collaboration through the perspective of social-technical interaction. This paper emphasizes that starting from the mission of the platform, the stickiness of the platform can be enhanced by building platform affordances. In addition, extensive development ideas that purely pursue Internet traffic and capital need to be avoided, which is conducive to the high-quality development of knowledge platforms and the digital economy. Furthermore, this paper calls for more research on the affordances and empowerment mechanism of the platform to provide theoretical guidance for the highly unified practice of platform organizational characteristics, platform system characteristics, and target customer needs, so as to develop a more active and meaningful platform knowledge management field.

Customer-led versus market-oriented: An investigation of the lean startup methodology framework

<p>Market-oriented approach to customer development has been strongly associated innovativeness and new product success. There is also evidence to suggest customer-led approach, or responding to explicit customer needs, impedes innovation. This thesis investigates whether the increasingly popular Lean Startup Methodology (LSM) favours customer-led or market-oriented approach to discovering and learning about customer needs. The study was conducted using a participatory action research methodology. The LSM was used as a framework for investigating the commercial value of two researched projects originating from within Victoria University. The LSM was also applied to a third project founded by the Master of Advanced Technology Enterprise (MATE) team. The LSM process is shown to assist in the discovery of both explicit and latent customer needs. However, which one the framework favours depends on whether the product or the market is the primary driver of the validation process. In one instance the entrepreneur is deliberately looking to discover a present market need in order to align it with a pre-defined solution, while the alternative is to study the market in order to identify an opportunity followed by the development of a specific solution. The latter is shown to support becoming market oriented. The findings also suggest Domain Knowledge plays a vital role in establishing and maintaining market-oriented approach to customer development. Domain knowledge aids in understanding market data in order to extract novel and meaningful insights. Establishing close relationships with emerging customers and „lead users‟ in a particular market is shown to be an effective method of compensating for a lack of domain knowledge. What‟s more, the presence of preconceived prototypes is shown to negatively impact on the entrepreneur‟s ability to approach customer development in a market-oriented manner. By drawing on the MATE team‟s experiences, this thesis aims to provide practical lessons for individuals and teams that are looking to take a market-oriented approach to customer development.</p>

Customer-led versus market-oriented: An investigation of the lean startup methodology framework

<p>Market-oriented approach to customer development has been strongly associated innovativeness and new product success. There is also evidence to suggest customer-led approach, or responding to explicit customer needs, impedes innovation. This thesis investigates whether the increasingly popular Lean Startup Methodology (LSM) favours customer-led or market-oriented approach to discovering and learning about customer needs. The study was conducted using a participatory action research methodology. The LSM was used as a framework for investigating the commercial value of two researched projects originating from within Victoria University. The LSM was also applied to a third project founded by the Master of Advanced Technology Enterprise (MATE) team. The LSM process is shown to assist in the discovery of both explicit and latent customer needs. However, which one the framework favours depends on whether the product or the market is the primary driver of the validation process. In one instance the entrepreneur is deliberately looking to discover a present market need in order to align it with a pre-defined solution, while the alternative is to study the market in order to identify an opportunity followed by the development of a specific solution. The latter is shown to support becoming market oriented. The findings also suggest Domain Knowledge plays a vital role in establishing and maintaining market-oriented approach to customer development. Domain knowledge aids in understanding market data in order to extract novel and meaningful insights. Establishing close relationships with emerging customers and „lead users‟ in a particular market is shown to be an effective method of compensating for a lack of domain knowledge. What‟s more, the presence of preconceived prototypes is shown to negatively impact on the entrepreneur‟s ability to approach customer development in a market-oriented manner. By drawing on the MATE team‟s experiences, this thesis aims to provide practical lessons for individuals and teams that are looking to take a market-oriented approach to customer development.</p>