How do RBV and Porter’s five forces model explain the business strategy of a successful low cost airline? : a case study of Ryanair

Den här studien har syftat till att undersöka och analysera skillnaderna i hur de två teorierna Resource-based view (RBV) och Porters femkraftsmodell förklarar en framgångsrik affärsstrategi, men även hur de olika faktorerna som identifieras i de olika teorierna kan relateras till varandra. Det irländska flygbolaget Ryanairs affärsstrategi kommer studeras och användas som stöd för studien. Efter en dålig start ändrade de strategi och efter 25 år av framgångar är flygbolaget idag Europas mest lönsamma samt största sett till antalet passagerare. En kvalitativ metod har valts eftersom vi vill fördjupa oss i det enskilda fallet angående Ryanairs utveckling och framgång utifrån implementeringen av en ny affärsmodell. Eftersom Ryanairs process från omstrukturering till framgång har pågått under lång tid passar även fallstudien väl in som metod. För utökad förståelse för studiens två teorier, RBV och Porters femkraftsmodell, har litteratur som riktar kritik mot teorierna insamlats. Analysen och diskussionen har resulterat i att författarna kommit fram till tre faktorer identifierade med hjälp av Porters femkraftsmodell, samt fem faktorer med hjälp av RBV teorins VRIO-analys. Dessa var avgörande inom affärsstrategin för bolaget. Kombinationen med att inrikta sig på att vara ett lågprisflyg, skapa starka strategiska förhandlingsfördelar gentemot leverantörer samt utnyttja kapacitet för att konkurrera ut ny konkurrens har varit de starkast bidragande orsakerna till att Ryanair blivit framgångsrika, enligt Porters femkraftsmodell. Inom RBV läggs fokus på resurserna och där har varumärke, styrgrupp, personal, flygplansflotta och finansiella resurser lokaliserats som bakomliggande orsaker till Ryanairs framgångar. Kapacitet och användningen av kapacitet har varit de starkast relaterade faktorerna mellan teorierna. Den största skillnaden mellan analyserna är att RBV belyser mer värdet av de icke materiella tillgångarna som kunskap och varumärke än Porters femkraftsmodell.This study aims at investigating and analyzing the differences in how the two theories Resource-based View (RBV) and Porter's five force model explains a successful business strategy, but also how the different factors identified in the different theories can be related to each other. The irish airline Ryanair will be studied and used as support for the thesis. After a bad start the company changed their strategy and after 25 years of success the airline is Europe's most profitable and got the most passengers. A qualitative method has been chosen because we want to immerse ourselves in the individual case regarding Ryanair's development and success based on the implementation of a new business model. Because Ryanair's process from restructuring to success has been going on for a long time, the case study was suitable as a method. To extend the understanding of the study’s two theories, Porter’s five forces model and RBV, has a literature review of its critics been collected. The analysis and discussion have resulted in the authors coming up with three factors identified using the Porter's five forces model, as well as five factors using the VRIO analysis of the RBV theory. These were crucial in the business strategy of the company. The combination of focusing on low-cost flights, creating strong strategic negotiating advantages towards suppliers, and utilizing capacity to compete for new competition have been the strongest contributing reasons for Ryanair's success, according to the Porter's five forces model. RBV focuses on resources, where brand, management group, staff, aircraft fleet and financial resources have been identified as the root causes of Ryanair's success. Capacity and use of capacity have been the strongest related factors between the two theories. The main difference between the analyzes is that RBV illuminates more the value of non-material assets as knowledge and brand than the Porter's five forces model

Phenomenological model for first-order elastocaloric materials [Modèle phénoménologique pour les matériaux élastocaloriques de premier ordre]

Elastocaloric cooling systems may offer a potentially more efficient as well as environmentally friendly alternative to compressor-based cooling technology. These cooling systems use stress-induced phase transformation in elastocaloric materials to pump heat. Thermodynamically consistent material models can be used to design and quantify the efficiency of these cooling systems. In this paper, we present a phenomenological material model that depicts the behavior of first-order materials during stress-induced phase transformation. This model is based on a phenomenological heat capacity equation, from which the parameters adiabatic temperature change and isothermal entropy can be derived. Hysteresis of the materials, which determines it dissipative effects, is also taken into account. Based on this model, these parameters can be calculated as a function of stress and temperature. The performance coefficients derived from the model can be used to evaluate the materials efficiency. Furthermore, the data obtained using this model coincided very closely with experimental data

Long-term stable compressive elastocaloric cooling system with latent heat transfer

Elastocaloric cooling systems can evolve into an environmentally friendly alternative to compressor-based cooling systems. One of the main factors preventing its application is a poor long-term stability of the elastocaloric material. This especially applies to systems that work with tensile loads and which benefit from the large surface area for heat transfer. Exerting compressive instead of tensile loads on the material increases long-term stability-though at the expense of cooling power density. Here, we present a heat transfer concept for elastocaloric systems where heat is transferred by evaporation and condensation of a fluid. Enhanced heat transfer rates allow us to choose the sample geometry more freely and thereby realize a compression-based system showing unprecedented long-term stability of 10$^{7}$ cycles and cooling power density of 6270 W kg$^{-1}$

PST

PST is a tool for performing space syntax and regular accessibility analyses. It currently consists of two main parts - a C++ and Python library called Pstalgo and a plugin for the desktop application QGIS.PST is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. The GNU General Public License is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change all versions of a program--to make sure it remains free software for all its users.The code for PST is released via Github as we agreed upon. The code is released under GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE and is available at https://github.com/SMoG-Chalmers/PST. I can make you member of the group in Github if you have an account. If you want this, make an account and let me know your name so that I can invite you.The application is from now on available via: https://github.com/SMoG-Chalmers/PST/releases/download/v3.1.3/pstqgis_3.1.3_2019-11-11.zip. Please remove other possibilities to download it and replace the download option with the url above. In that way we can coordinate new releases better by only changing it in one location, that is Github.Documentation is available via DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.25718.55364. Please remove the documentation from your websites so that we have one place to download the most recent one.Data and tutorials are still available via KTH and Chalmers:https://www.smog.chalmers.se/psthttps://www.arch.kth.se/forskning/urban-design/softwar

Häxan

Affisch för teaterföreställningen Hexan på Åbo Svenska Teater 28.12.188

The architecture of the soul : Subtle anatomy as experience, embodiment, and self-understanding, 1875–2020

Contemporary forms of yoga and meditation, New Age-inspired practices, and alternative medicine share a conception of the body and mind as composed of “energy.” It depicts the soul, spirit, or consciousness as a form that adepts of spiritual practices can learn to “see” and “feel.” Further, the subtle body (or bodies) is viewed as permeated by subtle energy – usually referred to by Indian terms such as prana or kundalini, alternatively by the Chinese term ch’i or the Japanese ki. Sometimes theosophical concepts such as “aura” and “astral body” are used, and sometimes practitioners just refer to “the energy.” This dissertation is a study of essential influences behind the contemporary (Swedish) interpretations of such concepts (commonly referred to as “subtle-corporeal”) as well as experiences related to them. Through an online survey with 811 Swedish yoga and meditation practitioners (conducted 2017–2019), the prevalence of subtle-corporeal concepts (i.e., prana, kundalini, ki, chakras, nadis, and aura) was examined. It showed that 99.5% of the respondents were familiar with at least one of the concepts and that 61.7% thought they had had a personal experience of subtle energy or subtle anatomy. Furthermore, 20 interviews were conducted with practitioners recruited through the survey. Integrating the History of Religion, Cognitive Science of Religion, Embodied Cognition, and Metaphor Analysis, the interview analysis shows how subtle-corporeal concepts (and related cognitive schemas) are linked to “special personal experiences” in connection with yoga/meditation practices. It also examines which role metaphors and image schemas play in embodied cognition of subtle energy and subtle anatomy. It is concluded that subtle-corporeal schemas have three crucial functions for yoga and meditation practicing Swedes: 1) it constitutes a “diagnostic instrument” or “language” through which practitioners can decipher, understand and mediate personal experiences; 2) it functions as “an embodied tool” through which experiences can be generated to deepen one’s knowledge of the world and the self – or in a search for new types of experiences, and 3) it is used as a “conceptual anchor” through which embodied experiences are given a broader meaning in a life-narrative

The Tetractys and the Hebdomad : Blavatsky’s Sacred Geometry

This article traces essential sources behind the Western reception of Sanskrit terminology on the concept of subtle anatomy, focusing on the late nineteenth-century when the Theosophical Society and its forefront, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, first presented it to a Western audience. A doctrinal change took place around 1880–81 in an interaction between American, European, and Indian Theosophists, distinguishing Blavatsky’s major works Isis Unveiled (1877) and The Secret Doctrine (1888). The subject of how and why the first doctrine of three human principles (body, soul, and spirit) developed into her later version including seven human principles is carefully examined. A new hypothesis on why the number seven became the backbone of Blavatsky’s entire cosmology is also presented. According to this, the seven-fold subtle anatomy was there since the grounding of the Theosophical Society (1875) and was rooted in specific numerological, mathematical, and geometric speculations which Blavatsky shared with several other contemporary authors. The article explores Blavatsky’s interpretation of some related arithmological themes in nineteenth-century American literature such as the Pythagorean tetraktys, “the tetrad,” “the pyramid,” “the cube,” and “the hexagram.