STOCHASTIC COST-VOLUME-PROFIT ANALYSIS IN A COMPETITIVE OLIGOPOLY

Previous stochastic cost-volume-profit (CVP) models have assumed that the firm was operating under either perfect competition or monopolistic conditions. This paper presents a stochastic CVP model applicable to oligopolistic competition. Each firm is assumed to maximize a linear function of the expected value and the standard deviation of its random profits. The result is a game-theoretic model that is solved using the concept of a Nash equilibrium. The results of the model are used to examine a firm's competitive strength. The model can be easily modified to accommodate a measure of risk based on the capital asset pricing theory.     

A DECISION THEORY EXAMPLE IN FOOTBALL

In the 1967 Harvard-Cornell football game, Harvard was ahead 14–0 late in the game when Cornell scored two touchdowns. On both occasions, Cornell tried and failed on the two-point conversion attempt and lost the game 14–12. Postgame arguments were divided on the merits of Cornell's strategy. For this frequently occurring scenario in college football, we derive a maximum expected utility decision rule for the decision of kicking versus running/passing based on the relative utility of a win, a tie, or a loss and the probabilities of success with a kick as opposed to a run/pass.     

Using theory of change as a framework for examining community context and philanthropic impact

As part of the process of examining their theory of change (TOC) and reflecting on grant making activity, one Midwestern foundation employed a multipronged strategy to assess 209 community-based mental health grants across seven years of funding. This article details the evaluation approach, which comprised these areas of the TOC: grantees’ use of evidence-based interventions, cultural competency, quality improvement, community collaboration, and use of integrated care. Inductive analyses identified grantees’ use of innovative practices, trauma-informed care, and use of validated instruments. In an iterative exercise spanning multiple years, the foundation and researchers found ways to gather information about community capacity and impact while simultaneously minimizing grantee data collection/reporting burden. Findings revealed that community agencies were improving in their uptake of evidence-based interventions and use of validated instruments. Community grantee use of trauma informed care also improved over the study period. Grantee desire to collaborate and coordinate services within the community was also strong. The research also revealed that in multiple domains (such as technology and non-profit operating costs) grantees needed support in building agency capacity. These findings shed light on which aspects of the foundation’s TOC were being addressed through funding, and which areas of the community needed additional support.     

Analysing facilitating and hindering factors for implementing gender equality interventions in R&I: Structures and processes

This article analyses the facilitating and hindering factors that have affected the implementation of gender equality interventions in research and innovation in Europe. It applies the evaluation framework developed in the EFFORTI project that recognizes the complexity of evaluating gender equality interventions in R&I, the importance of factoring in context to any sound evaluation as well as the need to distinguish between the design and implementation of interventions in evaluations. It is based on the analysis of 19 empirical case studies carried out throughout Europe and focuses on those structural and procedural factors that have either facilitated or hindered the implementation process of these interventions. Findings include how the governance framework; top-management commitment; bottom-up participation; framing synergies with other initiatives, strategies for tackling resistance; resources; sustainability of actions; gender competence, experience and knowledge and transparency, targets, standards and monitoring; and accessible data and information all contributed to the successful implementation of the interventions.     

Traditional,Problem-Solving and Critical Theory: An Analysis of Horkheimer and Cox's Setting of the ‘Critical’ Divide

Abstract

Robert W. Cox's dictum that ‘(t)heory is for someone and for some purpose’ (emphasis in the original) is said to be the most-quoted line in International Relations (IR) theory. Yet whilst this spurred a revolution in critical thinking in IR, it echoed a far older conception of Critical Theory advanced by Max Horkheimer in the 1930s that claimed there is ‘no theory of society?…?that does not contain political motivations'. Both sentiments emphasize the relation between knowledge and human interests, and yet both formulate two distinct—though allied—ways of approaching ‘critical’ theorizing. In order to understand the similarities and differences in their approaches, this paper draws out three loci of difference between Cox and Horkheimer regarding the question of emancipation: (i) the epistemological relation between ‘critical’ and ‘Problem-Solving’ (Cox) or ‘Traditional Theory’ (Horkheimer); (ii) the emphasis placed on transformation and historical process; and (iii) the importance of intersubjectivity in how each approach emancipation. It is argued that by actively combining critical (dialectical) approaches across the social sciences, broadening human agency through civilizational dialogue, and retaining a commitment to emancipatory (and visionary) political futures based on human association, that Critical International Theory can maintain ongoing relevance in IR.     

基于多元智能理论的信息化教学设计

加德纳提出的多元智能理论给传统教育观念带来了巨大的冲击,也赋予了信息化教学设计新的依据和新的视角.基于多元智能理论,从目标导向、内容构建、环境创设、评价设计四个方面探讨信息化教学设计的基本理念,并对多元智能理论指导下的信息化教学设计模式进行分析.     

A CANONICAL ANALYSIS OF MANAGERIAL-ENVIRONMENTAL RELATIONSHIPS: IMPLICATIONS FOR METHODOLOGY AND POLICY*

The present study uses canonical analysis to examine the contingency model of organizations in the nursing home field. Data on environmental pressures and managerial practices relevant to the decision-making process are analyzed. Results support the theory that managerial practices are contingent on environmental pressures. The implications of these results for health-care decision makers and for future assessments of managerial-environmental relationships are discussed.     

Testing Prospect Theory in a Deterministic Multiple Criteria Decision-Making Environment*

Prospect theory by Kahneman and Tversky [7] is tested in a deterministic multiple criteria decision-making context. In two experiments conducted in classroom settings subjects made pairwise preference comparisons of condominiums for sale. The results of the experiments indicate that the traditional value model did not explain the subjects' revealed preferences as well as the prospect model. We conclude that prospect theory is a reasonable model of choice for many individuals in such a context.     

Determining Differences in Expert Judgment: Implications for Knowledge Acquisition and Validation*

In knowledge acquisition, it is often desirable to aggregate the judgments of multiple experts into a single system. In some cases this takes the form of averaging the judgments of those experts. In these situations it is desirable to determine if the experts have different views of the world before their individual judgments are aggregated. In validation, multiple experts often are employed to compare the performance of expert systems and other human actors. Often those judgments are then averaged to establish performance quality of the expert system. An important part of the comparison process should be determining if the experts have a similar view of the world. If the experts do not have similar views, their evaluations of performance may differ, resulting in a meaningless average performance measure. Alternatively, if all the validating experts do have similar views of the world then the validation process may result in paradigm myopia.     

面子理论及其局限性新探 ——基于盎格鲁中心主义思想的研究

布朗和列文森的面子理论一直被视为研究礼貌现象的经典理论,在语言学界影响极大;但面子理论的提出是基于英语语料,研究的也仅仅是英语文化的礼貌现象,因此该理论深受盎格鲁文化价值影响,带有浓厚的盎格鲁中心主义思想,不能全面解释其他文化中的礼貌现象。回顾了面子理论的精髓思想及其贡献,在学术界对该理论的批判性研究基础上,从跨文化交际及盎格鲁中心主义的角度,进一步探讨面子理论的局限性,并为该理论研究的发展思路和方向提出诸多新的思考。