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At the moment, the largest amount of tissue paper products are consumed in East Asia (which includes China and Japan), Europe and North America, and between 2010 and 2023, consumption of tissue paper products is expected to grow by 3% with the largest growth rate in China. Meanwhile, toilet paper, kitchen towels and facial tissues, combined make up 85.2% of all tissue paper products consumed in 2018. While different factors can be named as responsible for this growth in consumption, it is quite difficult to isolate the product-related factors that contribute to the growth of consumption of tissue paper in different countries due to the fact that tissue products have limited uniform specifications between different suppliers. This means, tissue suppliers and tissue machine manufacturers, like Valmet, are left with the challenge of understanding customers’ motivations behind demand of different tissue paper products. This is the motivation behind this study, which is to investigate what qualities of toilet paper, facial tissues and kitchen towels, are customers in the US, China and Japan satisfied or dissatisfied with. This is compared with measurements of the qualities of these products, like softness, strength, thickness, to determine the ranges of values of the products’ qualities that customers are satisfied with. Online reviews of 34 different brands of tissue paper products are collected ethically from online retailer websites (Amazon US, Amazon Japan, Walmart, JD.com), and analysed using the thematic analysis methodology to identify the list of qualities of tissue products that customers are satisfied or dissatisfied with. Then, the Pareto rule was used to identify the top 20% most important qualities to customers. These 34 brands were also purchased from these online retailers and their different qualities were measured. The results and conclusion from the study revealed different insights, among which is that softness is a must-be quality for toilet papers in all countries studied, while water absorption is a must-be quality for kitchen towels. The study also revealed ranges of the numerical values of these qualities that are acceptable to end consumers. Valmet intends to use the conclusions from the study in engagements with tissue paper suppliers in the three countries regarding product strategies and choice of technology.

Purpose of the study: The main purpose of this study is to explore the suitability of the self-service technology (SST) factor in transportation marketing research. SST is a novel theory that initially was developed for technology devices. Thus, SST is carry on to examine their usefulness on customer satisfaction and loyalty. Methodology: This research paper is conceptually based on a critical review of self-service technology, customer satisfaction and loyalty toward the Grabcar services in East Coast Malaysia. Main Findings: The researchers propose a model where the self-service technology is accounted for from two different dimensions (Functionality and Enjoyment). This study also makes an attempt to relate all these factors in determining the loyalty of the customers. Applications of this study: This study will enable the decision-maker to understand better ways to increase the satisfaction of the customer. Novelty/Originality of this study: This study offers a theoretical framework for applied researchers who are interested in transportation marketing. As SST becomes popular during Industrial Revolution4.0, this is the right time to promote a new model for investigation purposes.

Background: Patients’ perspectives provide valuable information on quality of care. This study evaluates the feasibility and validity of Internet administration of Service Satisfaction Scale for Cancer Care (SCA) to assess patient satisfaction with outcome, practitioner manner/skill, information, and waiting/access. Patients and methods: Primary data collected from November 2007 to April 2008. Patients receiving cancer care within 1 year were recruited from oncology, surgery, and radiation clinics at a tertiary care hospital. An Internet-based version of the 16-item SCA was developed. Participants were randomised to Internet SCA followed by paper SCA 2 weeks later or vice versa. Seven-point Likert scale responses were converted to a 0–100 scale (minimum–maximum satisfaction). Response distribution, Cronbach’s alpha, and test–retest correlations were calculated. Results: Among 122 consenting participants, 78 responded to initial SCA. Mean satisfaction scores for paper/Internet were 91/90 (outcome), 95/94 (practitioner manner/skill), 89/90 (information), and 86/86 (waiting/access). Response rate and item missingness were similar for Internet and paper. Except for practitioner manner/skill, test–retest correlations were robust r = 0.77 (outcome), 0.74 (information), and 0.75 (waiting/access) (all P < 0.001). Conclusions: Internet SCA administration is a feasible and a valid measurement of cancer care satisfaction for a wide range of cancer diagnoses, treatment modalities, and clinic settings.

We built and deployed a decision-support system for scheduling paper manufacturing and distribution, an extremely complex task with multiple stages of production and strong interaction between stages. In contrast to earlier approaches, our system considers multiple scheduling objectives and multiple stages of production and distribution simultaneously using multiple evaluation criteria. Our system functions as an intelligent assistant to the schedulers and generates multiple good scheduling alternatives using a portfolio of algorithms and direct human-expert input. The successful deployment of our system at several paper mills in North America has resulted in significant savings, greater customer satisfaction, and improved business processes.

[概要] 認知的不協和理論は従来から顧客満足研究に適用されてきたが, 文化的側面により不協和生起に違いがあるかもしれないということに関してはあまり考慮されてこなかった. 本稿では, この点に関して相互独立的自己観と相互協調的自己観という観点から理論的に検討していくものである. その結果, 西洋人（相互独立的自己観を保有）と東洋人（相互協調的自己観）との間には不協和生起に差があることが確認された. [Abstract] Cognitive dissonance theory has applied to customer satisfaction studies in the past without considering a difference of dissonance occurrence between cultures. This paper discusses theoretically a cultural difference of dissonance occurrence from the point of view of independent and interdependent construal of self. It turned out that there is a cultural difference of dissonance occurrence between Westerners, who have independent construal of self and Orientals, who have interdependent construal of self. Concretely, if there is not other's existence in a person's choice or decision, dissonance is easy to occur in Westerners. On the contrary, dissonance is easy to occur in Orientals if there is other's existence in a person's choice or decision.