Zoekresultaten

Mastering Meaningful Customer Connections

Within large service organizations there are currently two trends visible. These trends seem to be diametrically opposed. On the one hand organizations face increasing price pressure and thus a pressure to cut costs. One of the consequences of this trend is that organizations are increasingly encouraging customers to make more use of digital communication channels. At the same time, companies find it important to know their customers in order to respond adequately to their needs. To do this, organizations must have a certain degree of personal involvement to their customers and they must have regular personal contact. It is assumed that both trends – digitisation and personalisation – will have a strong impact on customer experience and (perhaps) on the relational models customers use. If it is true that relational models - so the way in which people perceive and assess a relationship - play a role in the perception of the customer, it is also interesting to know if it is possible to influence these relational models. During the last fifty years much research has been done into the possibilities to influence customers by using subliminal priming techniques. In these techniques thoughts and feelings are unconsciously activated by showing people certain words or images (eg Bargh, Chen & Burrows, 1996; Dijksterhuis, 2005). In recent years a number of experiments were performed in which customers were unconsciously primed at some type of relationship (eg Aggarwal, 2004; McGraw & Tetlock, 2005; Tuk, Verlegh, Smidts & Wigboldus, 2009). These experiments showed that it is possible to activate a certain type of relationship. The experiments however the researchers used scenario’s based on an interpersonal relationship, and often to a fictitious relationship. The question is whether priming techniques also work for an already existing and more complex relationship between an organization and its customers. From 2010-2013 we conducted research for six large service providers in banking, insurance, utilities and social welfare to discover what the customer experience of these organisations, what role relational models played in customer experience and whether it was possible to influence these relational models. The research project has provided answers to the following questions: - Which relational models are used by customers and what is the influence of these models on customer experience? - What is the influence of digitisation in customer communication on relational models and customer experience? - What is the influence of personalisation in customer communication on relational models and customer experience? And finally, - Is it possible to influence relational models (and customer experience) by using specific words and images that are associated with relational models (relational framing)?

Short communications: Exploring temporal fluorescent changes in the composition of human semen stains

Semen traces are considered important pieces of evidence in forensic investigations, especially those involving sexsual offenses. Recently, our research group developed a fluorescence-based technique to accurately determine the age of semen traces. However, the specific compounds resonsible for the fluoresescent behaviour of ageing semens remain unknown. As such, in this exploratory study, the aim is to identify the components associated with the fluorescent behavior of ageing semen traces. In this investigation semen stains and various biofluorophores commonly found in body fluids were left to aged for 0, 2, 4, 7, 14 and 21 days. Subsequently, thin-layer chromatography (TLC) and ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) mass spectrometry were performed to identify the biofluorophores present in semen. Several contributors to the autofluorescence could be identified in semen stain, these include tryptophan, kynurenine, kynurenic acid, and norharman. The study sheds light on the.

An integrated approach for the validation of energy and environmental system analysis models

A review has been completed for a verification and validation (V&V) of the (Excel) BioGas simulator or EBS model. The EBS model calculates the environmental impact of biogas production pathways using Material and Energy Flow Analysis, time dependent dynamics, geographic information, and Life Cycle analysis. Within this article a V&V method is researched, selected and applied to validate the EBS model. Through the use of the method described within this article: mistakes in the model are resolved, the strengths and weaknesses of the model are found, and the concept of the model is tested and strengthened. The validation process does not only improve the model but also helps the modelers in widening their focus and scope. This article can, therefore, also be used in the validation process of similar models. The main result from the V&V process indicates that the EBS model is valid; however, it should be considered as an expert model and should only be used by expert users.

A circular moonshot

We aim to understand the interaction between shifting organizational field logics and field actors’ responses to reconcile logic plurality and maintain legitimacy through business model innovation. Drawing on a multimethod, longitudinal field study in the fashion industry, we traced how de novo and incumbent firms integrate circular logics in business models (for sustainability) and uncover how productive tensions in field logics lead to experimental spaces for business model innovation. Our findings showed a shift in the discourse on circular logic that diverted attention and resources from materials innovation (e.g. recycling) to business model innovation (e.g. circular business models). By juxtaposing the degree of field logic tension and the degree of business model innovation, we derive four types of business model hybridization responses that actors engaged in to maintain legitimacy – constrained, limited, integrated, and expanded. Our study generates new insights on business models for sustainability as vehicles for organizational field change.

Experience unpacked: on the temporal dynamics of emotions in tourism and leisure experiences.

Differential parietal and temporal contributions to music perception in improvising and score-dependent musicians, an fMRI study

Using fMRI, cerebral activations were studied in 24 classically-trained keyboard performers and 12 musically unskilled control subjects. Two groups of musicians were recruited: improvising (n=12) and score-dependent (non-improvising) musicians (n=12). While listening to both familiar and unfamiliar music, subjects either (covertly) appraised the presented music performance or imagined they were playing the music themselves. We hypothesized that improvising musicians would exhibit enhanced efficiency of audiomotor transformation reflected by stronger ventral premotor activation. Statistical Parametric Mapping revealed that, while virtually 'playing along' with the music, improvising musicians exhibited activation of a right-hemisphere distribution of cerebral areas including posterior-superior parietal and dorsal premotor cortex. Involvement of these right-hemisphere dorsal stream areas suggests that improvising musicians recruited an amodal spatial processing system subserving pitch-to-space transformations to facilitate their virtual motor performance. Score-dependent musicians recruited a primarily left-hemisphere pattern of motor areas together with the posterior part of the right superior temporal sulcus, suggesting a relationship between aural discrimination and symbolic representation. Activations in bilateral auditory cortex were significantly larger for improvising musicians than for score-dependent musicians, suggesting enhanced top-down effects on aural perception. Our results suggest that learning to play a music instrument primarily from notation predisposes musicians toward aural identification and discrimination, while learning by improvisation involves audio-spatial-motor transformations, not only during performance, but also perception.