https://aurora.auburn.edu/handle/11200/44130 2026-04-07T23:54:55Z 2026-04-07T23:54:55Z https://aurora.auburn.edu/handle/11200/50409 2022-10-15T08:30:49Z

Spatial Competition and Private Labels Private labels, also known as store brands, are an important component of competitive strategy among multi-product retailers, as they can increase retailers' power over suppliers in the vertical channel or facilitate horizontal differentiation among retailers. This paper seeks to identify the relative importance of each role, conditional on the location of both private labels and national brands of ice cream in attribute space. We find that retailers' share of the total margin (retail price less production cost) is higher for private labels than national brands when retailers choose to imitate national brands with their own offerings.

https://aurora.auburn.edu/handle/11200/49628 2019-10-31T18:31:27Z

Forest Vegetation of the Lower Alabama Piedmont Forest community types were distinguished for the lower Alabama Piedmont using a combination of two agglomerative clustering algorithms with a similarity sorting technique. All stands classified in 8 of the resulting 10 community types has within—type similarity values of at least 45%. Ordination by reciprocal averaging using the tree basal areas indicated that community types can be segregated into three topographically defined groups: streambottom communities (Sweetgum—Water Oak—Red Maple and Small Steambottoms), mesic upland communities (White Oak, Chestnut Oak, Pine—Hardwoods, Mixed Oak—Hickory, and Loblolly Pine), and xeric upland communities (Oak—Pine, Blackjack Oak—Pine, and Longleaf Pine). A reciprocal averaging ordination using understory plants successfully separated most of the same community types. The combined clustering—similarity sorting procedure identified "core " stands that provide a clearer representation of definable forest community types than would have resulted from inclusion of atypical or transitional stands. The combination of classification for description of vegetation and ordination for definition of vegetation—site relationships proved complementary and useful. The highest tree species diversities were in mesic upland hardwood and pine—hardwood communities; the lowest were in pine communities. Diameter size class distributions revealed general underrepresentation in the seedling/sapling size classes for all important canopy species, even the climax Quercus and Carya. Underrepresentation was most severe in wet—to—mesic stands. Natural succession from pine toward hardwood dominance is more rapid on bottomlands, stream terraces, and other moist sites than on drier, more fire—prone uplands. Forest cutting practices of many nonindustrial owners accelerate the trend toward dominance of hardwoods, even on uplands.

https://aurora.auburn.edu/handle/11200/49449 2024-04-01T17:07:45Z

The Wonder Grass: The Story of Tall Fescue in the United States From its origins in Europe, its unlikely beginnings in the United States, the controversy surrounding its initial release and issues with fescue toxicosis, “The Wonder Grass” is a fascinating examination of the history and modern uses of forage tall fescue. The book was written by former Auburn University Professor Don Ball, former University of Kentucky professor Garry Lacefield and former University of Georgia professor Carl Hoveland. It takes a comprehensive look at the species, starting with how in 1893, a farmer in the mountains of eastern Kentucky noticed that a grass on his farm remained green during cooler months when most other plants were dormant and brown.