Implementing an improved inventory control system in a small company: a case study

The paper presents the implementation of an improved inventory management control system in a small company. The project took place at Trojan Mine, a company involved in mining mineral resources. Firstly, a conceptual framework for the design of an inventory control management system is developed. Secondly, a very effective user-friendly inventory control tool for determining the category A items was developed using EXCEL spreadsheet; a tool that is an asset to the company since it can be used in future. Finally, key performance indicators were also established to give benchmark to operations. The improved inventory control management system developed is found to offer improvement to the performance of the company since capital tied up in overstocking items of high annual usage value is released.     

Uncertainty and sensitivity analysis techniques as tools for the quality assessment of composite indicators

Summary.  Composite indicators are increasingly used for bench-marking countries' performances. Yet doubts are often raised about the robustness of the resulting countries' rankings and about the significance of the associated policy message. We propose the use of uncertainty analysis and sensitivity analysis to gain useful insights during the process of building composite indicators, including a contribution to the indicators' definition of quality and an assessment of the reliability of countries' rankings. We discuss to what extent the use of uncertainty and sensitivity analysis may increase transparency or make policy inference more defensible by applying the methodology to a known composite indicator: the United Nations's technology achievement index.     

国家经济风险评价模型的一种改进

在全球面临金融一体化及贸易全球化形势下,各国金融机构、工商企业以及投资者纷纷向海外进行国际贷款和投资。投资者将面临新的潜在风险,其中又以国家经济风险属国际投资活动中最容易给投资者造成经济损失的风险。对国家经济风险的研究具有重要现实意义。文章首先叙述国家经济风险研究意义、国家经济风险定义、国家经济风险影响因素以及通常的国家经济风险定量评估模型,指出通常的国家经济风险定量评估模型值得改进的地方,再以亚洲地区五个国家实际数据进行实证分析,表明改进以后的定量评估模型在预测精度上得到明显提高。     

工程总承包模式下的综合评标指标体系研究

目前,我国工程总承包发展达到了一个新阶段,但缺乏一套系统的、可操作的工程总承包评标指标体系。为此,给出了工程总承包评标指标体系建立的原则,分析了工程建设应达到的五个目标,并以此为基础,提出了工程总承包模式下一套完整的选择总承包商的评标指标体系,包括商务指标、技术指标与管理指标。     

指标体系构建与优良性评价的方法研究

文章分析了传统构建指标体系中存在的问题,探讨了构建指标体系应遵循的几个主要原则。在此基础上阐述了构建指标体系定量方法的基本思路,从理论的角度构造了确定指标体系的定量方法,叙述了如何实现评价指标优良性的理论方法。该研究对建立科学的指标体系具有一定的理论指导价值,有利于建立科学的评价指标体系。     

Domestic violence and child abuse: developing sensitive policies and guidance

Domestic violence is everywhere and nowhere. No statutory organization or health service has work with either perpetrators or survivors of domestic violence (usually women and children) as the primary focus of their service, yet all agencies will have very significant numbers among their clients/service users. It is therefore crucial that the policy framework is developed both within and between agencies to address the need, and scope, of intervention in this area and particularly the impact on children. Currently, significant steps have been taken by some agencies in the UK to address this previously neglected issue, though the developments are patchy. This paper draws on a UK‐wide research study which mapped the extent and range of service provision for families where there is domestic violence and also developed a framework of good practice indicators for provision in this area. This article examines one of the indicators of good practice arising from the research—that of policy development—within social service departments and within the multi‐agency arena. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于AHP下的江苏城市投资环境的评价研究

文章依据国际投资环境理论建立了一套投资环境评价指标体系,采用层次分析方法和数据标准化模型,对江苏城市投资环境进行了比较和分析,并据此提出了提高江苏城市投资环境的建议和对策。     

Children’s conceptualisation(s) of their well-being

This paper describes the process and some findings of a collaborative project between the New South Wales Commission for Children and Young People and researchers at the Social Justice and Social Change Research Centre, at the University of Western Sydney. The project was designed to inform the Commission in implementing its legislative mandate to develop a set of well-being indicators to monitor children's well-being over time. Placing children centrally as research participants was fundamental to the methodological approach of the project in which children's understandings of what contributes to their well-being were explored through qualitative methods. We discuss the epistemological and methodological approaches used in the project, in the context of other, earlier research towards the development of children's well-being indicators. Some of the early findings from the collaborative project are outlined and an example given of the way in which knowledge produced by a research approach which places children centrally, differs from and is similar to knowledge produced by more traditional child social indicator research. The paper ends with a discussion of some of the implications and challenges posed by reflecting on the research process and early findings from the research.     

民族地区综合实力及其指标体系初探

本文根据发展经济学、国民经济学、统计学及国民经济核算等基本理论对民族地区综合实力的主要内 容及其指标体系进行了初步探讨。认为:民族地区综合实力应包括资源、经济活动、宏观调控、对外经 济影响、教育科技、人民生活和社会发展等六个方面,每一个方面又由若干个指标构成,形成一个完整 的指标体系。设计和确立民族地区综合实力指标体系对民族地区经济社会发展具有重要意义。     

Theorizing indicators

Policymakers and social theorists have increasingly come to rely on social indicators to guide their decisions and theories. Social indicators are also useful in bridging theory and empirical research as well as the traditional gap between policymaking and social theory. The concept of social indicators covers interpretation of cultural signs, simple statistical measures, and complex statistical indexes related to sets of domains. The article views the development of child well-being indicators as central not only in the social welfare field, but as an indicator of future societal conditions, given that children’s lives are especially sensitive to social change. The paper addresses the development of indicators of children’s well-being, arguing that the expansion of the field, the complexity of new domains and indicators, and the position of children as “being” and “becoming”, they are citizens of the present as well as being socialized for the future, illustrates that the next crucial step for the field is to further elaborate theories and models.