When, for whom and why expanding single-option offerings creates value: locomotion fit from choice between options

Purpose Emerging direct-to-consumer brands offer a single option to consumers before expanding their assortment as the business grows. This provides a counterexample to commonly held beliefs concerning consumers’ aversion to single options. The purpose of this paper is to study when, for whom and why offering two product options (vs a single option) is valued by consumers. Design/methodology/approach Across six experiments, this research investigates consumers’ locomotion orientation (a motivation for controlling progress), which affects the valuation of choice (vs single options). Findings Consumers’ locomotion orientation determines perceived product value for products chosen from a two-option set (vs when considering a single option) because choice offers active control, which is engaging for high-locomotion consumers. Expanding the set to six options has no such effect. Research limitations/implications Studies 1, 4a and 4b are set in the context of expert-selected single options, while Studies 2, 3 and 5 do not involve expert selection. However, the authors does not contrast expert vs non-expert conditions directly. Practical implications Managers can increase consumers’ willingness to pay by using advertisements to induce locomotion or segmenting consumers based on locomotion orientations. Originality/value Research suggests that consumers value choice between options, yet many emerging brands succeed with a single option. The authors reconcile this by providing insights into motivations that determine when, for whom and why choice (vs a single option) is valued.

DEVELOPMENT OF A METHODOLOGY FOR ASSESSING THE MANUFACTURABILITY OF INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS IN THE CONDITIONS OF PILOT PRODUCTION

The article is devoted to improving the reliability of a comprehensive quantitative assessment of the technological performance of the product design in the conditions of pilot production, taking into account the specific production and technological conditions of the enterprise by solving the problem of objective selection of technological performance indicators. To achieve this goal, the following tasks were solved: the indicators of the manufacturability of product designs, their quantitative assessment were studied; a mathematical model for the formation of design indicators of manufacturability was developed, the optimal set of indicators of manufacturability for a particular product was selected; a method for quantitative evaluation and expert selection of indicators of manufacturability by their weights was developed; an algorithm for determining the integral indicator of the product's manufacturability was developed; the developed algorithm for the integral evaluation of the product's manufacturability indicators was applied. The practical significance of the work lies in the approbation of the author's method of expert selection and the determination of the integral index of manufacturability. This indicator is one of the elements of improving the efficiency of the enterprise, especially in the conditions of pilot production. The method developed by the author makes it possible to more reliably assess the manufacturability of the product at the initial stages of design. A positive result was obtained by expert selection of indicators that take into account the design features and the technological level of the manufacturer. In addition, the proposed method made it possible to identify reserves for improving the manufacturability of the product design. The use of the author's methodology helps to reduce the time and costs associated with the development and production of a new product.

DEVELOPING THE ALGORITHM OF AN AUTOMATED EXPERT SELECTION SYSTEM FOR CONDUCTING CORRECTION MEASURES TO IMPROVE THE DRILLING JIG PERFORMANCE

This article presents the main problems that arise during the drilling jig operation. The paper considers the main nodes of the jig and their purpose. An FMEA-analysis is carried out, on the basis of which the main risks for the consumer arising during the operation are identified, and corrective measures are proposed to improve the product quality. The main methods used for choosing the experts are analyzed, and an automated system for selecting the experts in the Russian Science Foundation is considered. The article presents the scheme of the developed decision support system and the algorithm of the automated system for selecting the experts to carry out corrective measures including various methods.

An Immune Evolutionary Algorithm with Punishment Mechanism for Public Procurement Expert Selection

In the past decade, fairness in public procurement expert selection has attracted research attention. This paper proposes an immune evolutionary algorithm (IEA) with a punishment mechanism for expert selection, in which an ordered weighted aggregation (OWA) operator is applied to adjust the score weights to reduce expert evaluation committee abuse discretion and Grubbs method is employed to test the outliers. The results from a real-life public procurement case demonstrated that the abnormal experts could be effectively suppressed during the selection process and that the proposed method performed better than either the random selection algorithm or IEA, neither of which considers a punishment mechanism. Therefore, the proposed method, which applied the abnormal data detected in the scoring process to the expert selection process with a punishment mechanism, was proven to be effective in solving public procurement problems that may have doubtful or abnormal experts.

Providing a System Based on Location Systems to Reduce Possible Earthquake Accidents

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effective indexes of damage to a building, with the aim of reducing the possible events caused by the earthquake and presenting a model based on spatial information systems. So, after collecting the data and information required by field method and statistical blocks, a spatial database was obtained. Then, the effectiveness of each of the criteria was based on the creation of a binary comparison matrix and questioning experts from the subject The study was obtained. In the end, in order to establish a link between the influential factors and the estimation of the final vulnerability of each building, a formula was presented in which all the effective factors were involved with the emphasis on the level of effectiveness of each building. Using expert selection software, the indexes were evaluated in terms of weight and value. Finally, the geospatial information system of GIS evaluated the magnitude and severity of the earthquake in different ranges and its consequences in terms of the indices studied for the buildings in the study area.

An Approach to Supporting the Selection of Maintenance Experts in the Context of Industry 4.0

(1) Background: In recent years, many studies regarding the issues of improving the management and effectiveness of the maintenance department of manufacturing companies, in the context Industry 4.0, have been published. This makes it necessary to establish a research gap in the approach to obtaining support in realising management tasks in the maintenance area in the selection of appropriate employees to perform the given activities. (2) Methods: This article uses literature studies and empirical research results from manufacturing companies, in order to determine the approach in supporting the selection of maintenance experts. In the approach, the method used—which is based on rules should there be future any formalisation of the data—is also the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP), which analyses the importance of a given competence, within a manufacturing resource, to undertake repairs. (3) Results: The innovative approach towards the selection of expert workers in a maintenance department is created, in part, in the form of an implemented web-application. The novelty of the “maintenance expert selection map", so-called, is the provision of formal procedures for describing the competence of each maintenance worker and defining the best “state of nature”. (4) Conclusions: In the research that is presented here, the practicality for maintenance managers in the “maintenance expert selection map" was established. This map describes the competence of workers for selecting them for repair work within a given manufacturing resource; the scope of employee training was also determined in this research.