The Capability Maturity Model Integrated as a Market Engineering Maturity Model

This article examined a variant of the capability maturity model integrated (CMMi) through the lens of market engineering process improvement. The population and sample represented a national array of U.S. marketing organizations. Using ANOVA, a 0.05 significance level, and a stratification of urban marketing organizations versus rural marketing organizations, the study showed three statistically significant differences representing the second (p = 0.00; M = 2.90), fourth (p = 0.01; M = 3.22), and sixth hypotheses (p = 0.04; M = 3.15). The second hypothesis corresponded to the first maturity level (ad hoc, random processes), the fourth hypothesis corresponded to the third maturity level (characterized and expressed processes), and the sixth hypothesis corresponded to the fifth maturity level (optimized processes).

Engineering Energy Markets: The Past, the Present, and the Future

Since the beginning of the energy sector liberalization, the design of energy markets has become a prominent field of research. Markets nowadays facilitate efficient resource allocation in many fields of energy system operation, such as plant dispatch, control reserve provisioning, delimitation of related carbon emissions, grid congestion management, and, more recently, smart grid concepts and local energy trading. Therefore, good market designs play an important role in enabling the energy transition toward a more sustainable energy supply for all. In this chapter, we retrace how market engineering shaped the development of energy markets and how the research focus shifted from national wholesale markets to more decentralized and location-sensitive concepts.

How at the Institute of Information Systems and Marketing One Thing Leads to Another and Eventually Results in a Low-Trade Theorem

This chapter portrays how research topics arise and develop in the creative environment of the research group Information & Market Engineering of the Institute of Information Systems and Marketing at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. It is somewhat long-winded in the beginning but identifies then a clear goal. In the following, it strays around several lines of research; touches on the question of why something like forecasting markets, the actual research topic, works at all – without answering it; and finally reaches a result that has little to do with the original objective. Along the way, the chapter provides some insights into the economic theory of double auctions.

Information and Market Engineering at KIT: Quo Vadis?

Information systems (IS) are nowadays at the core of many personal and institutional activities and influence daily life more than ever before. To understand, evaluate and envision the forms of how we interact with IS, interdisciplinary and multifaceted research efforts are required. At the Information and Market Engineering chair at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, this task is taken head-on via research that stretches from user experiences to system design. In this review, the present research foci at the department are outlined, together with a brief description of its origins and the global developments that underly the necessity of conducting these particular IS studies.

ETIKA BISNIS ISLAM DALAM PERSPEKTIF PEMIKIRAN AL-GHAZALI

Al-Ghazali's views on economy and business are not limited to philosophical plains, but are a combination of real conditions that occur in society with philosophical values, accompanied by logical arguments. Al-Ghazali in his thoughts about business economics is based on the Sufism approach which he wrote in his book Ihya 'Ulum al-Din. As a matter of fact, there are still many practices of tadlis (unknown to one party), namely violating the principle of “an taraddin minkum”. The practice of tadlis occurs because of four things, namely quantity reduction of the scale; quality, namely the concealment of object defects; price engineering takes advantage of market price ignorance; uncertainty of delivery time, namely the seller does not know for sure the goods will be delivered to the buyer. In addition, we often encounter market engineering practices. Al-Ghazali paid considerable attention to economic and business activities in society, including the utility hierarchy and its characteristics in the corridor of social obligations to social welfare (maslahah). In addition, al-Ghazali views the ultimate goal is salvation. Work is part of worship is evidence of the work ethic created through extrarelgious efforts. That the intention of someone's behavior in accordance with Divine rules in every economic activity can be of worship value. Al-Ghazali has a view of market ethics that emphasizes truth and honesty, which can be applied to market evolution and the role of money based on the ethics and morals of the perpetrators. Al-Ghazali argued that the state must create security conditions to enhance prosperity and economic development. The existence of state institutions, to monitor adverse market practices. Al-Ghazali stated that trade activities are essential to the functionalization of the economy, the need for secure and safe trade routes, and the state should provide protection so that markets can expand and the economy can grow. Keywords: Islamic Business Ethics, Maslahah, Work Ethics. Abstrak Pandangan al-Ghazali mengenai ekonomi dan bisnis tidak terbatas pada dataran filosofis, melainkan perpaduan antara kondisi riil yang terjadi dalam masyarakat dengan nilai-nilai filosofis, disertai argumen yang logis. Al-Ghazali dalam pemikirannya seputar ekonomi bisnis didasarkan pada pendekatan tasawuf yang beliau tuangkan dalam karyanya kitab Ihya ’Ulum al-Din. Sebagaimana fakta yang terjadi praktek bisnis masih banyak terjadi praktek tadlis (unknown to one party) yaitu melanggar prinsip “an taraddin minkum”. Praktek tadlis terjadi karena empat hal, kuantitas yaitu pengurangan timbangan; kualitas yaitu penyembunyian kecacatan obyek; rekayasa harga memanfaatkan ketidaktahuan harga pasar; ketidakpastian waktu penyerahan yaitu penjual tidak mengetahui secara pasti barang akan diserahkan kepada pembeli. Selain itu juga sering kita jumpai praktek rekayasa pasar. Al-Ghazali memberikan perhatian yang cukup besar terhadap aktivitas ekonomi dan bisnis dalam masyarakat, termasuk hierarki utilitas dan karakteristiknya dalam koridor kewajiban sosial terhadap kesejahteraan sosial (maslahah). Selain itu al-Ghazali memandang tujuan akhir adalah keselamatan. Bekerja merupakan bagian dari ibadah merupakan bukti etos kerja yang diciptakan melalui upaya ekstrarelgius. Bahwa niat perilaku seseorang yang sesuai dengan aturan Ilahi dalam setiap aktivitas ekonomi dapat bernilai Ibadah. Al-Ghazali mempunyai pandangan tentang etika pasar yang menitikberatkan pada kebenaran dan kejujuran, yang dapat diaplikasikan pada evolusi pasar dan peranan uang berdasarkan etika dan moral para pelakunya. Al-Ghazali berpendapat negara harus menciptakan kondisi keamanan untuk meningkatkan kemakmuran dan pembangunan ekonomi. Eksistensi kelembagaan negara, untuk mengawasi praktek-praktek pasar yang merugikan. Al-Ghazali menyatakan bahwa kegiatan perdagangan merupakan hal yang esensial terhadap fungsionalisasi perekonomian, perlunya rute perdagangan yang terjamin dan aman, serta negara seharusnya memberikan perlindungan, sehingga pasar dapat meluas dan ekonomi dapat tumbuh. Kata kunci: Etika Bisnis Islam, Maslahah, Etos Kerja.

PROMOTING ENTREPRENEURIAL PRACTICE BY CRAMMING A PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PROJECT OVER A WEEKEND

As the definition of the engineering profession continues to witness a disruptive transformation in the labour market, engineering schools are beginning to recognize the need to facilitate a new approach to education. Such a disruption has lead to the explosion of entrepreneurship education within the boarders of engineering schools in attempt to generate the talent and skills of the future engineer. There is however a gap – engineering schools were never designed to deliver entrepreneurship education. Success in this endeavour relies on a new approach to teaching; one that is founded in a group-based, experiential learning environment. At the University of New Brunswick, entrepreneurship education is a core element offered to all our engineering students. The following article proposes the CRAM – a two day hackathon designed to introduce students to a cohesion of contemporary entrepreneurship practices to accelerate group formation and acquire entrepreneurship skill sets using an inductive teaching approach. The delivery of the CRAM is discussed in detail, along with feedback from the student participants.

THE TECHNIQUE OF FORMATION OF SYSTEM OF FORESTRY MACHINES

A variety of natural-production conditions, which is necessary to conduct logging activities largely complicates the choice of forest machines for each individual company in the industry having logging sites in its composition. Depending on many natural and production conditions such as: slope, bearing capacity of soils, ambient temperature, maximum investments, etc., and the wide range of forestry equipment on the market, engineering divisions of the company solving a problem about the purchase of new or replacement of lost its performance machines are more and more difficult to make the right choice. This work presents a methodology for forming the system of forest machines with the natural and production conditions in a convenient form, not requiring special expert knowledge from the field of mathematical modeling or other areas of science. According to the methodology the first step is selection of basic machine and performing the first major operation in felling trees, then switch to the auxiliary machines which are linked to the underlying performance, to reduce the number of in-process stock. Selection of basic and auxiliary machines is provided that candidates and excludes important indicators. If in the process of selecting the logging machine does not meet the screening criteria for excluding indicators then it does not participate in the selection. Significant index can be neglected in case of discrepancy of candidates to stated requirements. The performance of the model was tested on the example of harvesting sites of the enterprises of the Krasnoyarsk region in spring 2016. In the course of the experiment the system of forest machines, meeting the required selection criteria, was obtained.

Bajaj Auto Limited: Synergizing Product Engineering and Market Engineering Initiatives

The case chronicles the rise-fall-rise saga of the Indian two-wheeler major Bajaj Auto Limited from the perspective of product engineering and market engineering initiatives. The Indian two-wheeler industry went through a metamorphosis over the last two decades as consumer preference shifted from inconspicuous scooter to elegant motorcycle. Even as Bajaj implemented product and market engineering initiatives to satisfy changing consumer tastes, its market share was not a reflection of its efforts until it integrated these two vital domains. The case elucidates upon the decision situations encountered by the top management of Bajaj in its quest to attain consumer centricity through synergistic assimilation of product engineering skills and market engineering acumen. The case is divided into eight sections. The introduction section traces the history of Indian two-wheeler industry from the product and market engineering perspective and elucidates upon the challenge of creating a customer-centred company through synergistic assimilation of both these vital domains. The second section offers a view of the present two-wheeler industry landscape; critically evaluates the consumer value system to reveal the different benefit-based customer segments; and, documents the shifting loyalty of Indian consumers from archaic scooters to aesthetic motorcycles. The third section maps the industry in terms of price and engine capacity so as to sketch out the competitive scenario. The fourth section highlights the trials and tribulations that the organization has undergone on its way to learning the ropes towards better integration of product engineering and market engineering initiatives. The fifth section provides a description of the various product innovation measures taken by Bajaj in the decade gone by to win back its lost glory. The sixth section delineates Bajaj's endeavour in the last decade to harness latent consumer needs, wants and desires to its advantage. The section on competitors' product and market engineering strategies puts into perspective the product engineering and market engineering strategies of Bajaj's key competitors — Hero Honda and TVS. The case culminates with the conclusion section wherein the authors have discussed how the synergy achieved between the product engineering and market engineering initiatives in the last decade has catapulted Bajaj back into reckoning as a proactive player in the Indian two-wheeler industry.