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.     

突发性事件:挑战领导能力

应对突发性事件是非程序化的决策问题,往往无章可循。突发性事件具有模糊性、破坏性、演变迅速等特点,既给领导者处置这些问题带来一定的难度,又是对领导能力的一种挑战。作为组织核心与灵魂的领导者,处理突发性事件是其不可推卸的责任,而且随着领导活动时空跨度的加大、个体变量的增多、领导对象构成的复杂化,领导者只有具备较高的素质和能力,才能应对突发性事件,提高自己处理危机的能力。未雨绸缪———超前的预警能力突发性事件最明显的特点就是突发性。它以什么方式出现、在什么时候出现,则是偶然的,有时不是人们所能准确判断的。但是,…     

Organization theory: Where are you?

This paper seeks to summarize the present state of organization theory. It takes as its starting-point the work of early organization theorists and demonstrates that their work has been challenged in basically four different ways, i.e. regarding the view on (a) individuals in organizations, (b) the interaction among individuals in organizations, (c) the relationship between organizations and their environments and (d) the technology of organizations. The implications of these qualifications are discussed with reference to recent literature. These discussions led to the conclusion that the number of research questions have increased rather than decreased over the years. Thus, a unified organization theory may be less valid today than at the beginning of the century. This circumstance, however, it is argued, should not be considered a regression but rather a sign of increasing insight.     

Where business networks and institutions meet: Internationalization decision-making under uncertainty

Both business networks and institutional forces are relevant to firm internationalization but they have seldom been studied together. We investigate under what circumstances firms are more likely to adopt non-predictive strategy in light of the influence of the business networks, the institutional forces, and the home market background affecting their internationalization. Based on survey data from 758 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from Brazil, China, Poland, Italy, and Sweden, our results support the effects of formal institutional distance and cultural differences on the use of non-predictive strategies by SMEs in internationalization decisions, as well as the contingency effects of business network stability and of having an emerging market background. We integrate research on the liability of foreignness and the liability of outsidership and find that business network stability is critical. It does not moderate the relation between cultural difference and NPS adoption but attenuates the negative relation between institutional distance and NPS adoption, indicating that the liabilities of foreignness and outsidership play different roles in internationalization.     

Temporary Workers in Italy: Who Are They and Where They End Up

Abstract. Temporary work has been an important component of employment growth in Italy since the early 1990s. This paper focus upon labour market transitions of temporary workers in order to test whether temporary work enhances the subsequent labour market chances. We use propensity score matching to compare subsequent employment outcomes of people who have recently acquired a temporary job with those of people who remained unemployed. Individuals' hetero geneity explains a good amount of the raw differences in the subsequent labour market status of temporary workers and the comparison group. Yet there appears to be a sizable net gain from experiencing a temporary work. Our benchmark average estimate is a 30 percentage points rise in the ‘satisfactory employment’ chances 1 year after the start of the temporary work experience. The net gains are the largest for females and adult people and the areas with low unemployment; moreover, gains are the largest for the most recent years in our sample and for those people who were (according to the propensity score estimates) either least or most likely to exit from unemployment.     

Your E‐mail Trail: Where Ethics Meets Forensics1

This article addresses ethical and legal issues arising from the increasing use of e‐mail and other forms of instant written communication in the conduct of business. E‐mail communications are often casual and informal. Yet e‐mail is a written record that can be more permanent and widely accessible than a paper communication. This article focuses on the implications of this fact, including (1) how individuals compromise their own privacy by the voluntary use of e‐mail; (2) how e‐mail has complicated the duty of confidentiality of employees to employers, and professionals to clients; (3) whether the use of e‐mail affects ethical deliberation and choice; and (4) the use of e‐mail as evidence of corporate conduct and intent in civil and criminal litigation. The article suggests that e‐mail users think “forensically” about their e‐mail—i.e., consider its potential as evidence in the context of other emails and underlying events—before pressing the “send” button.     

Repeated Games Where the Payoffs and Monitoring Structure Are Unknown

This paper studies repeated games with imperfect public monitoring where the players are uncertain both about the payoff functions and about the relationship between the distribution of signals and the actions played. We introduce the concept of perfect public ex post equilibrium (PPXE), and show that it can be characterized with an extension of the techniques used to study perfect public equilibria. We develop identifiability conditions that are sufficient for a folk theorem; these conditions imply that there are PPXE in which the payoffs are approximately the same as if the monitoring structure and payoff functions were known. Finally, we define perfect type‐contingently public ex post equilibria (PTXE), which allows players to condition their actions on their initial private information, and we provide its linear programming characterization.     

Revitalising energy capital project development and execution strategies: lessons from the energy sector

This study sought to examine project delivery challenges currently being faced by energy clients and to determine how they could achieve value creation through better alignment of project delivery processes. There are important lessons to be learned from the energy sector on how to deal with the unique operational and project challenges. Four exploratory focus groups were held with twenty senior project management practitioners, to better understand the greatest needs and project management processes in the energy sector. A formal deductive approach was used to examine and evaluate existing and future energy project delivery processes. From the qualitative data, participants recognised the need to introduce science-based project techniques such as system dynamics and project predictive analytics in project management processes. Participants further noted that comprehensive innovative project delivery processes and analytical approaches are required to cope with the increasing scale and complexity of energy capital projects.     

The energy market and energy planning

The purpose of this paper is to apply economic analysis to two important international energy problems. One is the short-and medium-term prospects for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. The second is the much longer run, though related matter of how the transition from presently used energy sources to those we may use in the future can be accomplished.     

Where Deer Roam: Chronic Yet Acute Site Exposures Preclude Ecological Risk Assessment

Global positioning system (GPS) technology has made possible the detailed tracking of the spatial movements of wildlife. Using GPS tracking collars placed on female white‐tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) over a protracted period, we illustrate that this species is spatially irrelevant for consideration in ecological risk assessments (ERAs) for commonly assessed contaminated sites. Specifically, deer movements do not allow for a sufficiency of chemical exposures to occur such that toxicological endpoints would be triggered. Deer are spatially irrelevant not only because their home ranges and overall utilized areas dwarf prototypical hazardous waste sites. They are also inappropriate for assessment because they only minimally contact reasonably sized preferred locations, this while demonstrating a confounding high degree of site affinity for them. Our spatial movements analysis suggests that deer introduce the ERA novelty of a species displaying elements of both chronic and acute site exposure. We further suggest that other large commonly assessed high‐profile mammals could also be found to be spatially irrelevant for ERAs were they to submit to the GPS tracking and subsequent data analysis we performed for the deer. Recognizing that certain receptors need not be considered in ERAs can help to simplify the ERA process.     

GREPOM: An energy policy model

Energy policy analysis and energy modelling as applied in the case of Greece are reviewed. A complex of energy policy models in synergy is presented. These models have been developed by the Energy Policy Unit of the National Technical University of Athens and constitute the framework for analysing specific medium- and long-term policy options. A case study involving the use of new energy technologies is described. Scenarios relating to the penetration rate of new energy technologies are analysed and respective policy implications are discussed. A general conclusion to the research conducted is that with parallel work on both the content of specific policy issues and the policymaking process in general, substantial progress could be made in improving the decision-making potential of public policy organizations.     

Supply Chain Integration,Product Modularity,and Market Valuation: Evidence from the Solar Energy Industry

Supply chain integration is increasingly seen as a method to obtain flexibility and, consequently, to provide competitive advantage for firms within a supply chain. Product modularity, either in concert with or independent of such integration, can also produce flexibility for firms within a supply chain. In this proof‐of‐concept research, we explore whether the supply chain network affects each constituent firm's market valuation and how decisions regarding the level of supply chain integration and the usage of product modularity are associated with the value of the supply chain. We develop a method to identify and measure the supply chain's effect on each constituent firm's market valuation. Results indicate that greater integration is associated with a higher supply chain valuation, whereas increasing aggregated product modularity across the supply chain relates to a lower supply chain value. However, when combined, the interaction of aggregated product modularity and supply chain integration is positively associated with the supply chain's valuation.     

The corporate energy policy: A management planning perspective

The energy problems facing the world have been receiving increasing attention in the press and in business journals. This article examines the attitudes of 224 U.S. business executives toward the energy crisis and examines the role of a corporate energy policy in minimizing the economic impact of future energy price increases and/or shortages. A plan for a corporate energy policy is proposed.     

OMEGa: an optimistic most energy gain method for minimum energy multicasting in wireless ad hoc networks

In wireless ad hoc networks where every device runs on its own battery, the energy consumption is critical to lengthen the network lifetime. The communication among devices in the network can be categorized as unicasting and multicasting (including broadcasting). For the case of unicasting, computing the energy optimal path between the two communicating nodes is polynomially solvable by computing the shortest path. But for the case of multicasting, shortest path or minimum spanning tree does not guarantee an energy optimal communication. In this paper, we present our novel approach, Optimistic Most Energy Gain (OMEGa) method, for the minimum energy multicasting in wireless ad hoc networks. OMEGa aims at maximum utilization of Wireless Multicast Advantage (WMA), which essentially means covering more nodes by using larger energy. Both theoretical and experimental analysis shows OMEGa method performs very well. Research is partially supported by NSF and Air Force grants.     

Electricity planning vs energy planning: A modelling approach

An essential part of the energy policy making process is the co-ordination of the sub-sectorial plans of energy producers in order to ensure that they are compatible with the broader goals of the global energy system. In this paper an attempt is made to underline the significance and estimate the size of this problem through an interplay of two optimization models; a global energy system model and an electricity subsystem model. The possibility of model interlink, leading to a higher level of co-ordination, is discussed.