Differentiation

This case study addresses the pitfalls of internationalization and entrepreneurial
decision-making in the creation of relevant differentiation for a gourmet fast-food
concept, whose foundations lay in good old fashioned fast food rules dressed in a
gourmet experience. In standardizing their market offer and having engaged in a frantic
expansion program, h3, the organization under scrutiny here (and that illustrates
business and management research methods in practice) has had to face serious strategic
challenges and concerns. Initially limited to the confines of their home nation, Portugal,
with subsequent expansion to Poland, Spain and Brazil, the chosen strategy of
geographical diversification cannot be said to have been an indisputable success, as the
organization is currently witnessing serious divestment decisions away from the Polish
and Spanish markets. The Brazilian market on the other hand appears to be thriving.
Their concept is that of gourmet burgers with a fast food logistics and service culture
underpinning it. Competition has been tough as several competitors have flocked into the
market with pretty much the same idea. The company has sought to establish an
emotional difference in what is increasingly a saturated market, although the h3 brand is
quickly becoming synonymous with a novel association that has been emerging in the
minds of consumers, gourmet and fast food coupled together in one food business
concept. However, some service elements and customization characteristics (co-creation
possibilities) may give the business a unique angle for relevant market differentiation.
Whilst there is no profound emotional difference that would otherwise have been present
via the association with a well-recognized and established brand, h3 appears on the
surface to have an even more worrying problem, in that they are apparently stuck in the
middle in terms of their strategic outlook into the future, as on the one hand their cost
structure is not fast food like and on the other, their ethos and potential basis for
differentiation, gourmet meals is susceptible to imitation by any middle of the road
competitor with serious intentions of coming into a profitable market. In addition to
possibly not having enough differentiation they are also not “branded” sufficiently…how
best to tackle the future is then their plight.

Simulacrum is often used as a method in modern brand communication (Baudrillard, 1981; Floch, 1990). The referents (or originals) normally used are objects, animals, scenes, events or art. Sometimes communicators use other brands advertising as referents in their simulacrum exercises. This is a case of Dolce & Gabbana (DG) in September 2011, which comes up with an advertising campaign for the promotion of their eyewear collection. The picture is clearly inspired from the advertising of the first Yves Saint Laurent eau de toilette in 1971, a historical and scandalous campaign as it was the first time a couturier was appearing naked on an advertisement.
A methodology is introduced allowing for a systematic assessment of the efficiency of the use of simulacrum in building the mythical status of brands. We have assumed that “All brands aspire to myth” (Lewi, 2009).For this purpose, two tools are introduced:
- A new semiotic square (of iconicity) which, contrary to the well-known square of veracity (Greimas and Courtès, 1993) allows for the differentiation between imitation and simulacrum.
- A list of six of the most relevant myth characteristics (primordial revelation, exemplary model, sacred tradition, time, universalism and binary oppositions) with examples on how the brand use them.

The methodology is then applied to the DG case in order to better understand the creative and meaning generating power of simulacrum and measure its effect on the six myth characteristics. We present in conclusion a diagnostic on the impact of this communication technique on the DG myth building process.
Text available on the site of the Italian Semiotic Association (www.ec-aiss.it)

Recent studies have shown that microRNAs (miRNAs) act as posttranscriptional regulators and that they play important roles during heart development and in cardiac function. Thus, they may provide new means of altering stem cell fate and differentiation processes. However, information about the correlation between global miRNA and mRNA expression in cardiomyocyte clusters (CMCs) derived from human embryonic stem cells (hESC) and in fetal and adult heart tissue is lacking. In the present study the global miRNA and mRNA expression in hESC-derived CMCs and in fetal and adult heart tissue was investigated in parallel using microarrays. Target genes for the differentially expressed miRNAs were predicted using computational methods, and the concordance in miRNA expression and mRNA levels of potential target genes was determined across the experimental samples. The biology of the predicted target genes was further explored regarding their molecular functions and involvement in known regulatory pathways. A clear correlation between the global miRNA expression and corresponding target mRNA expression was observed. Using three different sources of cardiac tissue-like samples, we defined the similarities between in vitro hESC-derived CMCs and their in vivo counterparts. The results are in line with previously reported observations that miRNAs repress mRNA expression and additionally identify a number of novel miRNAs with potential important roles in human cardiac tissue. The concordant miRNA expression pattern observed among all the cardiac tissue-like samples analyzed here provide a starting point for future ambitious studies aiming towards assessment of the functional roles of specific miRNAs during cardiomyocyte differentiation.

We show that if n>1 then there exists a Lebesgue null set in R^n containing a point of differentiability of each Lipschitz function f:R^n→R^(n-1); in combination with the work of others, this completes the investigation of when the classical Rademacher theorem admits a converse. Avoidance of σ-porous sets, arising as irregular points of Lipschitz functions, plays a key role in the proof.

Let X be a Banach space and 2 < n < dimX. We show there exists a directionally porous set P in X for which the set of C^1 surfaces of dimension n meeting P in positive measure is not meager. If X is separable, this leads to a decomposition of X into the union of a σ-directionally porous set and a set which is null on residually many C^1 surfaces of dimension n. This is of interest in the study of Γn-null and Γ-null sets and their applications to differentiability of Lipschitz functions.

We construct Peano curves γ:[0,∞)→R² whose "footprints" γ([0,t]), t>0, have C∞ boundaries and are tangent to a common continuous line field on the punctured plane R²∖{γ(0)}. Moreover, these boundaries can be taken C∞-close to any prescribed smooth family of nested smooth Jordan curves contracting to a point.

This paper analyzes strategic implications of corporate responsibility (CR) and in particular how a firm can differentiate with an environmentally responsible image. A single case study was conducted in the Nordic hospitality industry with semi-structured interviews as the main data collection method.

By adopting an environmentally responsible identity through shared values with the firm's key stakeholders, the firm can reflect an environmentally responsible image. This image can enhance the firm's strategic position through internal and external differentiators from competitors – as the firm becomes a more preferred employer, partner and supplier, it results in enhanced employee motivation, cost savings, better reputation, and greater guest loyalty. The amount of CR depends on the micro/meso/macro/global-level drivers, and competitive aims of the firm. The emphasis on stakeholder communication becomes greater as the firm increases its CR-aggressiveness. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

"The aim of this assignment is to provide an analysis of Goody’s S.A., the leading fast food chain in Greece, from a strategic marketing perspective. After briefly presenting the profile of the company, the assignment analyzes the external and internal environment, paying attention to the factors that affect their business, as well as the sources of its competitive advantages. Following these, a hypothetic case is analyzed, whereby a new low-cost retailer enters the fast-food industry in Greece.

The scenario of the case discussed in this assignment suggests, a new low-cost retailer enters the fast-food industry in Greece, which obviously affects the business of Goody’s. Within this context, there are two ways in which the company could respond. The first is to continue following a differentiation strategy, focusing on the different nature of the products it offers, compared with the low-cost competitor (as well as other competitors). According to this strategy, companies offer products and services, or product and service features that consumers perceive as unique (Gamble et al., 2010). More specifically, and also taking into consideration Greek consumers’ emphasis on eating healthy foods, the marketing campaigns of Goody’s shall emphasize on the fact that the food products offered by the company are made of fresh and high-quality materials and ingredients, and for this reason their cost is higher than that of low-cost competitors, and the new one that has emerged in specific."

Notch plays a critical role in the transition from proliferation to differentiation in the epidermis and corneal epithelium. Furthermore, aberrant Notch signaling is a feature of diseases like psoriasis, eczema, nonmelanoma skin cancer, and melanoma where differentiation and proliferation are impaired. Whereas much is known about the downstream events following Notch signaling, factors responsible for negatively regulating Notch receptor signaling after ligand activation are incompletely understood. Notch can undergo hydroxylation by factor-inhibiting hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (FIH-1); however, the biological significance of this phenomenon is unclear. Here we show that FIH-1 expression is up-regulated in diseased epidermis and corneal epithelium. Elevating FIH-1 levels in primary human epidermal keratinocytes (HEKs) and human corneal epithelial keratinocytes (HCEKs) impairs differentiation in submerged cultures and in a "three-dimensional" organotypic raft model of human epidermis, in part, via a coordinate decrease in Notch signaling. Knockdown of FIH-1 enhances keratinocyte differentiation. Loss of FIH-1 in vivo increased Notch activity in the limbal epithelium, resulting in a more differentiated phenotype. microRNA-31 (miR-31) is an endogenous negative regulator of FIH-1 expression that results in keratinocyte differentiation, mediated by Notch activation. Ectopically expressing miR-31 in an undifferentiated corneal epithelial cell line promotes differentiation and recapitulates a corneal epithelium in a three-dimensional raft culture model. Our results define a previously unknown mechanism for keratinocyte fate decisions where Notch signaling potential is, in part, controlled through a miR-31/FIH-1 nexus.

Recent research demonstrates the necessity to understand the impact of DNA damage on somatic stem cells. Especially for neural stem cells (NSC), this impact is poorly elucidated. We predominantly employed wildtype and gene-deficient embryonic stem cell-derived NSC and have uncovered that NSC, when exposed to X-ray induced DNA damage, lose their self- renewal potential by exiting the cell cycle and downregulating the expression of stem cell markers such as Nestin, Sox2 and Pax6. Consequently, irradiated NSC undergo astrocytic differentiation and upregulate GFAP while still cultured in conditions promoting self-renewal. We elucidated the mechanism of this process and show that irradiated NSC rapidly enter a novel kind of irreversible cellular senescence, associated with a loss of DNA damage response (DDR) signalling and increased cytokine secretion. Of these cytokines, we show Bmp2 to be responsible for expression of GFAP in irradiated NSC via its non-canonical signalling through JAK-STAT. We show that DDR genes control this process of cytokine-induced differentiation: while ATM plays a supportive role, this process can be efficiently potentiated through p53 deficiency. We recapitulate our observation of irradiation-induced NSC differentiation in adult NSC and murine glioblastoma cells in vitro and in vivo. Using a Sox2—Cre reporter mouse model, we demonstrate that cranial irradiation results in astrocytic differentiation of Sox2-expressing NSC residing in the adult subventricular zone.