Building strategy on technological resources and commercial proactiveness: The Gemplus case

This article uses the resource-based framework for analyzing the strategy of Gemplus, a spin-off of the French group Thomson, that has grown by 50 per cent each year since its creation in 1988. Three points are highlighted: (1) Gemplus combined various resources in order to build a distinctive competence base in three areas: smart cards design, mass production and mass customization, commercial capabilities. (2) The company's strategy is two-fold: a constant enlargement of the spectrum of applications of its core product (i.e. the smart card), supported by technology exploitation and commercial awareness, and an aggressive search for new geographical markets, supported by commercial proactiveness. (3) Gemplus continuously nurtures its resource base through a vast network of partners (with means such as R&D and joint-ventures). To summarize, we explain the success of Gemplus by a talented balance between an outside-in and an inside-out approach.     

Industrial policy: The case for national strategies for world markets

This article considers the objectives of an industrial policy that would develop national strategies for world markets. It describes the tools used to implement such strategies and how the strategies would be organized. The author also considers some of the advantages and disadvantages of developing national strategies for world markets.     

A new approach to corporate planning

A fresh approach to planning can help corporate executives deal with such long-range planning problems as the setting of unrealistic plan targets by division managers and a poor record of long-range plan implementation and control. This article considers such an approach.     

The modelling of supply in the shipping industry

This paper considers the way in which certain variables in the shipping industry fluctuate. Factors such as supply and demand for cargo carrying capacity, freight rates, laid-up tonnage, are shown to form a number of interacting feedback loops, and it is demonstrated that it is possible to construct a dynamic model of the system.     

Women and technology: A review of training initiatives

This paper considers the entry of women into technological areas of work, their subsequent career progression and return to work after a career break. It considers the development of those training programmes and related initiatives which have attempted to encourage girls and young women to enter non-traditional areas of work, and others which help women return to work after a career break. It emphasizes that such training needs to address the psychological and social issues which arise, as well as provide for new technical knowledge and skills. In doing so it reviews some of the courses which are currently available and comments on their apparent success. In its concluding problems it refers to the on-going problem of funding such training and of providing a supportive database.     

Women and technology: A review of training initiatives

Abstract

This paper considers the entry of women into technological areas of work, their subsequent career progression and return to work after a career break. It considers the development of those training programmes and related initiatives which have attempted to encourage girls and young women to enter non-traditional areas of work, and others which help women return to work after a career break. It emphasizes that such training needs to address the psychological and social issues which arise, as well as provide for new technical knowledge and skills. In doing so it reviews some of the courses which are currently available and comments on their apparent success. In its concluding problems it refers to the on-going problem of funding such training and of providing a supportive database.     

生产还是消费——中国股市生产资本资产定价模型实证检验

生产资本资产定价模型从企业利润最大化角度出发,推出资产的均衡价格.相较于消费资本资产定价模型,生产资本资产定价模型能更好的满足信息完全和决策者理性的假设条件.本文从生产资本资产定价模型出发,利用现值模型将生产的系统性风险因子,即生产的贝塔因子分解为现金流贝塔和折现率贝塔,并采用社会总投资和股市数据进行实证检验.本文发现生产-现金流贝塔是中国股市的重要定价因子,可较好地解释股权溢价的截面差异.相比之下,消费资本资产定价模型对不同资产之间风险溢价的解释能力较弱.     

移动证券用户的初始信任模型研究

缺乏对移动证券的信任是影响股民采纳的一个主要障碍,探讨移动证券初始信任的决定因素,对于指导业界制定合理的策略建立信任、吸引更多股民的采纳具有重要意义。本研究构建了一个初始信任的综合模型,分析了七个前因变量(无所不在、信息质量、兼容性、感知的声誉、感知的大小、结构保证和信任倾向)对移动证券的初始信任的影响。采用结构方程技术对模型进行了实证检验和分析。研究发现,股民对移动证券的初始信任主要受信息质量、无所不在、兼容性、结构保证和信任倾向的影响。最后提出了对策建议以及进一步研究的方向。     

OPTIMAL BUFFER ALLOCATION IN ASYNCHRONOUS CYCLIC MIXED-MODEL ASSEMBLY LINES

This paper considers a problem of optimal buffer allocation in cyclic asynchronous mixedmodel assembly lines with deterministic processing times. An analytical model is used to provide new insights into properties of optimal buffer allocation, that is, a buffer configuration that guarantees the highest possible throughput rate on the assembly line with a minimum number of buffers. Optimal buffer configuration is characterized, and an efficient algorithm to find such a configuration is developed. The approach proposed in this paper also provides insights on how to allocate a given number of buffers to workstations on the assembly line to maximize the throughput rate.     

Distributed Computer System Capacity Planning and Capacity Loading

The availability of micro-, mini-, and super computers has complicated the laws governing the economies of scale in computers and has increased the tendency to decentralize and distribute computing power. The optimal design of such a system requires integration of computers of varying power and a strategy for capacity loading. This paper considers the problem of capacity planning and capacity loading of a distributed computer system as a hierarchy of decisions. A linear programming model is developed for the initial capacity planning problem. A loading model that accounts for variations in arrival and processing rates of the jobs in a dynamic environment is developed to support the operations.     

The state of decision support systems: A review

Many organisations are now realising that information technology can make a significant contribution to their operations. Recent developments in decision support software are such that the time may have come when information technology will contribute significantly to managerial decision-making. This paper considers these developments alongside the organisational issues involved in decision-making, and the current position of IT in many mature organisations. The conclusion is that the new range of decision support software, whilst opening up further areas for computerised decision support, is unlikely to compete successfully for corporate IT funds. Use of the new tools will be restricted to small, isolated applications.     

一类仓库/零售商供应链运输问题的数学模型与算法研究

本文主要研究一类二级供应链中的运输问题,这里是指由若干仓库和零售商组成的供应链,物品从仓库运出,到达客户,以满足客户的需求.分单仓库、多仓库和多产品三种情形分别建立数学模型,设计相应的近似算法,并通过实例讨论了算法的有效性.     

Solar energy in electric utility planning: A linear programming approach

This paper considers a multi-year capacity expansion plan for an electric utility with the option of investing in solar generation units. It is demonstrated how issues such as randomness on both the demand and supply side of the problem, as well as the varying availability of solar energy may be conveniently modelled under some plausible assumptions, to yield a large-scale linear programming problem. A brief discussion is provided relating to the evaluation of the capacity credit attributable to the solar generation units. Computational considerations, some possible simplifications, and an illustrative example are also presented.     

OPTIMAL AND HEURISTIC SOLUTIONS FOR THE MULTI‐ITEM NEWSVENDOR PROBLEM WITH A SINGLE CAPACITY CONSTRAINT

This research considers a multi‐item newsvendor problem with a single capacity constraint. While this problem has been addressed in the literature, the focus here is on developing simple, closed‐form expressions for the order quantities. The benefit of such an approach is that the solutions are straightforward to calculate and have managerial appeal. Additionally, we show these expressions to be optimal under a variety of conditions. For more general cases when these optimality conditions do not hold, we use these expressions as heuristic solutions. Via computational studies, we demonstrate that these heuristics are extremely effective when the optimality conditions are not satisfied.     

Ackoff's Fables revisited: stories to inform operational research practice

This paper considers Ackoff's Fables, a set of short stories published by Ackoff in 1978 as guides to creative problem solving. The paper argues that storytelling of this kind contributes usefully to management and MS/OR education, before addressing how such Fables might be interpreted. It is demonstrated, using one of Ackoff's Fables, The Smart Jackass, for illustrative purposes, that interpretation of even apparently straightforward stories such as these is not unambiguous. The Fables can be interpreted in a multitude of different and sometimes contradictory ways, and the truths they might contain are not self-evident. Yet, as the basis for discussion, they still have much to offer as educational tools. The paper concludes with a discussion of literal truth in stories, and presents a classification of story types according to their relationship to literal truth.     

基于一级密封的工程量清单投标报价的博弈模型

本文通过运用博弈论中一级密封价格拍卖理论,研究了建设工程投标企业在不完全信息下的工程量清单投标报价博弈模型.该模型考虑了各工程量清单子项的单位成本分布函数、投标企业的报价函数以及投标企业竞标成功的概率等因素,通过对模型解的分析得出投标企业的最优投标报价策略.     

Evaluating correlated outcomes and sources of new information

This paper considers the difficulties associated with evaluating the expected value of additional information when the outcomes of various decision alternatives may be correlated. Such correlation is explained in terms of dependence of outcomes on common exogenous factors and it is argued that decisions regarding what, if any, additional information to collect should take such dependencies into account. A model-based ‘fixed-parameter’ approach to evaluating EVPI in such a context is developed and compared to the traditional ‘fixed-correlation’ approach. The results suggest that different assumptions about the issue of correlation can produce different, sometimes contradictory, conclusions about the expected value of additional information and bence, should be explicitly stated as part of any pre-posterior analysis. A hybrid model encompassing both approaches and rooted in the theory of psychology of inference is then proposed and illustrated.     

Preventing the displacement of small businesses through commercial gentrification: are affordable workspace policies the solution?

The displacement of small businesses in cities with rising land values is of increasing concern to local communities and reflected in the literature on commercial or industrial gentrification. This article explores the perception of such gentrification as both a problem and an opportunity, and considers the motivations and implications of state intervention in London, where policies requiring affordable workspace to be delivered within mixed use developments have been introduced. Based on case studies of 13 mixed use developments in London, the findings reveal the limitations and unintended consequences of affordable workspace policies, leading to a call for planners to revisit and strengthen more traditional planning tools.     

Minimization of maximum lateness under linear deterioration

This paper considers a single-machine scheduling problem to minimize the maximum lateness. The processing time of each job is a linear function of the time when the job starts processing. This problem is known to be -hard in the literature. In this paper, we design a branch-and-bound algorithm for deriving exact solutions by incorporating several properties concerning dominance relations and lower bounds. These properties produce synergic effects in accelerating the solution finding process such that the algorithm can solve problems of 100 jobs within 1 min on average. To compose approximate solutions, we revise a heuristic algorithm available in the literature and propose several hybrid variants. Numerical results evince that the proposed approaches are very effective in successfully reporting optimal solutions for most of the test cases.     

Tactics to Ensure Durability of Behavior Change Following the Removal of an Intervention Specialist: A Review of Temporal Generality Within Organizational Behavior Management

The endurance of behavior change over time, including the time period after a behavior specialist has ceased to offer direct services, is an important consideration for both organizational behavior management and behavior analysis in general. This article considers a dozen strategies labelled temporal generality tactics that may foster the maintenance and institutionalization of intervention efforts in organizational settings. The use of such tactics was examined by conducting a comprehensive review of articles published between 1977 and 2014 in the Journal of Organizational Behavior Management. The results of this review suggest that although follow-up measures are frequently collected, explicit and proactive strategies to systematically increase the success of long-term behavior change are rarely used or researched.