Price is a major motive that engages consumers in shopping websites, and although price tolerance has gained increasing attention for its importance on pricing strategy, related literature on e-commerce lacks a conceptual model probing into factors that influence customers’ price tolerance. This paper proposes an integrated conceptual model, and empirically tests the model using data collected ...

Due to its chronic nature with severe complications, diabetes needs costly prolonged treatment and care. The high economic burden of diabetes is particularly threatening low and middle income countries. Worldwide, studies have shown that the cost of diabetes per person is much higher than the per capita health expenditure. This study is the first to estimate the direct and indirect cost of diab...

It is a marketplace reality that marketing managers sometimes inflict switching costs on their customers, to inhibit them from defecting to new suppliers. In a competitive setting, such as the Internet market, where competition may be only one click away, has the potential of switching costs as an exit barrier and a binding ingredient of customer loyalty become altered? To address that issue, t...

In the era of experience economy, how best to deliver memorable and exciting customer experiences has become a key issue for service providers, and customers can involve themselves in service experience delivery by actively deciding appropriate services rather than passively accepting existing ones. However, service providers frequently consider profit and cost first despite knowing that high-q...

This paper proposes a discrete capacitated covering location-allocation model for pharmaceutical centers. In the presented model, two objectives are considered; the first one is minimization of costs and the second one try to maximize customer satisfaction by definition of social justice. Social justice in the model means that we consider customers satisfaction by using distance. the introduced...

New arising technologies change the modes of interaction between companies and their customers. So-called self-service technologies (SSTs) allow integrating customers as active participants into companies’ business processes and thereby are expected to generate not only more efficient processes but also positive effects on customer satisfaction. As some customers do not consider their integrati...

In this article, a finite horizon, multi product and multi period economic order quantity like seasonal items is considered where demand rate is deterministic and known but variable in each period. The order quantities of items come in batch sizes and the end of the period order quantity and, consequently, demand of customers are zero. In addition, storage space is constrained and the problem...

We model distribution, the delivery of goods to customers, as an activity governed by its own technology and undertaken by firms subsequently to production operations. We then use the model to investigate how distribution shapes innovation-driven economic growth. We contrast two canonical specifications of distribution costs, iceberg vs. per-unit, and characterize their implications for innovat...

BACKGROUND In China, malaria has been posing a significant economic burden on households. To evaluate malaria economic burden in terms of both direct and indirect costs has its meaning in improving the effectiveness of malaria elimination program in China. METHODS A number of study sites (eight counties in five provinces) were selected from the malaria endemic area in China, representing the ...