Channel Structure Choice for Remanufacturing under Green Consumerism

In recent decades, more and more consumers—referred to as “green consumers”—are willing to incorporate environmentally responsible decisions into their purchasing behaviors. This tendency is particularly notable in the European Union, the USA, and China. From a research perspective, while recent studies on remanufacturing have investigated optimal practices in regard to green consumerism, they have failed to address the flexibility manufacturers are afforded to outsource remanufacturing operations to third parties. In practice, some brand-name manufacturers—such as IBM, Land Rover, and Sun—do indeed outsource their remanufacturing operations. To further our understanding of the implications of differentiated structures for remanufacturing operations under green consumerism, we developed two models: one for a manufacturer undertaking remanufacturing themselves (Model M), and one for a manufacturer outsourcing it to a third-party remanufacturer (Model O). Our results indicate that, for markets with significant green consumerism, Model M tends to result in more remanufactured units and creates higher profitability for the manufacturer. However, under certain conditions, this model may also result in greater harm to the environment due to the comparative excess of manufacturers in the remanufacturing process. This implies that environmental groups and agencies should not only aim to encourage green consumerism, but should also focus their attention on the channel structures for remanufacturing.

The Land Rover “Guest experience” marketing concept

Purpose An experience marketing case: Land Rover Ltd. transformed the test drive into a personal learning and loyalty experience for their customers and potential customer “Guests” at a global network of Land Rover Experience Centres. Design/methodology/approach The Land Rover Experience platform, in the marketing role it has today, started to take shape in the late 1990s when the author and his associates began to craft it into a viable business strategy. As a case study, it offers executives a how-to guide to “marketing experiences.” Findings Land Rover enthusiasts and owners consider themselves Land Rover people but many need off-road training to familiarize themselves with all the car’s features used in rough terrain driving. Practical implications Two decades after pioneering the program, when the author retired in 2019, there were over 65 experience operations in place with more than one million Guests a year actively participating in Jaguar and Land Rover experience programs around the world. Originality/value The question for corporate executives should not be “How do we build Guest experiences into our marketing plan?” In many businesses the question needs to be “How do we build our marketing plan around rich and memorable Guest experiences?” Contribution to Impact

Removing carbon deposits from parts of the combustion chamber of diesel engines

The Leader4M apparatus for removing carbon deposition with the help of hydrogenair mixture in internal combustion engines was developed. The efficiency of this apparatus when cleaning the engine parts from carbonand coke deposition was proved. Power indicators of diesel engines of BMW X1 2.0 td and Land Rover Discovery 3.0 td were measured before and after cleaning the combustion chamber parts of these engines using the Leader4M installation. After cleaning the parts of these engines from carbon deposits using the Leader4M unit, the maximum power of the engines increased by 2.0–2.1 %, and the maximum torque of these engines increased by 0.2–1.8 %. Keywords internal combustion engines; diesel engine; diesel fuel; carbon formation; hydrogenair mixture

White Hot Technology

This chapter focuses on the UK as a well-placed tech hub with a cutting edge that is made sure it's not blunted as the UK takes a new path outside the EU and seeks to recover from the trauma of the Covid pandemic. It cites the driverless car that was tested for the first time on Britain's streets, which is considered an enormous advance on previous UK trials that involved a driver manually operating the vehicle. It also discusses the Milton Keynes exercise that showed the government's determination to make the UK a world leader by being at the forefront of developing driverless technology. The chapter talks about the UK's Jaguar Land Rover group, which took up the driverless challenge posed by Google's Waymo and China's Baidu company. It explores the automotive industry's thrust towards a new generation of vehicles that has advanced technology in developing hybrid, dual fuel and electric cars.

The Etymology of Despair in the Americas

Halfway into White Noise, Don DeLillo's novel from 1985, Jack Gladney packs his family in the car and leaves town running from a black chemical cloud. The “airborne toxic event” had triggered an emergency evacuation plan: floodlights from helicopters, sirens, unmarked cars from obscure agencies, clogged roads, makeshift shelters at a Boy Scout camp where the Red Cross would dispense juice and coffee. People are confused, they seek information wherever they can, “[s]mall crowds collected around certain men.” Among generalized bewilderment, Gladney observes a few individuals moving faster and more assertively than the rest, then getting into a Land Rover. In the chaotic scene of crisis, their confidence gets his attention. “Their bumper stickers read GUN CONTROL IS MIND CONTROL” Gladney reads. And his mind wanders: “In situations like this, you want to stick close to people in right-wing fringe groups. They've practiced staying alive.”