Optimal Pricing Strategies for Capacity Leasing Based on Time and Volume Usage in Telecommunication Networks

In this study, we examined optimal pricing strategies for “pay‐per‐time,” “pay‐per‐volume,” and “pay‐per‐both‐time‐and‐volume” based leasing of data networks in a monopoly environment. Conventionally, network capacity distribution includes short‐/long‐term bandwidth and/or usage time leasing. When customers choose connection‐time–based pricing, their rational behavior is to fully utilize the bandwidth capacity within a fixed time period, which may cause the network to burst (or overload). Conversely, when customers choose volume‐based strategies their rational behavior is to send only the minimum bytes necessary (even for time‐fixed tasks for real time applications), causing the quality of the task to decrease, which in turn creates an opportunity cost for the provider. Choosing a pay‐per time and volume hybridized pricing scheme allows customers to take advantage of both pricing strategies while lessening the disadvantages of each, because consumers generally have both time‐ and size‐fixed tasks such as batch data transactions. One of the key contributions of this study is to show that pay‐per both time and volume pricing is a viable and often preferable alternative to the offerings based on only time or volume, and that judicious use of such a pricing policy is profitable to the network provider.     

Competitive Capabilities among Manufacturing Plants in Developing,Emerging, and Industrialized Countries: A Comparative Analysis

Competitive capabilities have been defined as a plant's actual performance relative to its competitors, with the most commonly investigated capabilities being quality, delivery, flexibility, and cost. However, most research in this realm has investigated capabilities within developed countries, and neglected the context of developing and emerging nations, which are increasingly becoming viable economic entities in global supply chains in their own right. The present study fills this gap and carries out a comparative analysis of competitive capabilities among plants in developing, emerging, and industrialized countries. Basing our arguments on the resource‐based view of the firm, we suggest that the influence of competitive capabilities on each other varies among plants in differentially industrialized regions. Specifically, we suggest that, on average, competitive capabilities tend to influence each other to a greater degree in plants in emerging and developing countries compared to industrialized countries. Along similar lines, we suggest that the influence of the four competitive capabilities on performance improvement is manifested more strongly among plants in emerging and developing countries than among plants in industrialized nations. We investigate these contentions with data from 1,211 plants in 21 countries. The results are particularly important for decision makers as they decide on the increasingly global location of their manufacturing operations or the configuration of their global supply chains.     

Economic view of CIM system architecture

The synergistic advantage of systems integration for Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) has been a powerful thrust behind the productivity advancement in recent decades. However, the dependency among components, the intangible benefits and complexity of the system have been a barrier for system developers and the business community. This paper reports a systematic approach to assess economic merits of the CIM system. It projects CIM system designs on a multiple layer architecture with consideration of project life cycle. It introduces a modelling formalism to present a structured view of the economic aspect of the CIM system. The multiple criteria's aspect of CIM justification was treated with the AHP (Analytical Hierarchy Process) method. The complexity of various cost factors is reduced through application of the ABC (Activity Based Costing) method. The benefits of low level activities, both tangible and intangible, are then hierarchically aggregated into higher level system objectives. It also provides the necessary linkages between the economic and other views. A simple example was used to illustrate the approach.     

从五帝、三王到“天下型国家”:“天下政治”的历史成立

从五帝时代的共识的中国,经过三代的带有理想性的王制中国,再到秦汉王朝的大一统天下型国家,天下-中国的政教形态得以确立,这一形态集种姓民族、国家形式与文化文明形态于一体。这个形态的基本特征是纳天下的政教理想于成熟的国家形态之中。这种天下政治乃是有限支配与无限支配的统一体系:一方面,通过以家、国等为基础的有限支配推动以天下为指向的无限支配;另一方面,通过以天下为指向的无限支配反过来推动以国-家为基础的有限支配。由此形成了天下要素与国-家要素、文明要素与政治要素相互嵌入、彼此相造的格局。     

成效为本教育理论对我国高等教育改革的启示倡--以英国敦提大学医学院为例

成效为本教育理论认为,教学应从学习成效出发,由此逆推整个教学过程,最终保证成效的实现。英国敦提大学医学院以该理论为基础,将教学过程分为明确社会所需、明确教育成效、确定教学大纲等十个步骤,其教学改革取得了显著成效。该校对成效为本理论的实践经验可为我国高等教育改革提供有益参考。     

The Benefits and Costs of Using Metadata to Improve Enterprise Document Search

The literature shows that there are many problems with enterprise document search. Studies reveal that typical knowledge workers spend between 10% and 20% of their time searching for documents they never find. While many argue that metadata can improve enterprise document search, in reality few organizations use metadata. This represents a missed opportunity. This article describes the results of two experiments that use simulation to evaluate the actual impact of metadata on the costs and benefits of enterprise search. The first study provides quantitative evidence of the increase in recall and precision that stems from the use of metadata‐enhanced document searches. The second study demonstrates that simple metadata structures can be nearly as effective as complex ones, implying that the cost of creating and maintaining metadata is likely to be lower than generally thought. This is the first study to provide explicit quantitative evidence of the gains that can be achieved from the use of metadata, and one of only a handful of studies that examines the cost of creating and maintaining metadata.     

The Roles of Supply Chain Intelligence and Adaptability in New Product Launch Success

Many new product introductions continue to be unsuccessful, and while researchers have studied product development processes, relatively few studies directly address new product launch. We do so in the present research and posit that supply chain intelligence, defined as technological and competitive knowledge sourced and integrated from suppliers, customers, and competitors, plays an important role in explaining new product launch success. We further employ the knowledge‐based view to theorize that both supply chain adaptability and product innovation capability act as important mediators of the effects of supply chain intelligence on new product launch success and firm financial performance. While the former capability refers to a firm's ability to quickly adjust its supply chain to react to market and product design changes, the latter refers to the firm's proficiency in developing innovative new products. We test hypothesized relationships among these factors utilizing data collected in a survey of 229 U.S. manufacturing firms. Results point to the central role of supply chain adaptability in capturing the benefits of supplier technological intelligence for enhanced product innovation capability, new product launch success, and firm financial performance. In contrast, product innovation capability serves as the generative means by which customer and competitor intelligence is translated into more successful new product launches, which, in turn, produce superior firm financial performance. Overall, these findings contribute to a better understanding of factors that can explain why certain product launches are more successful than others, and offer practical insights for appropriate investments in the development of related knowledge resources.     

国有及国有控股企业集团的发展与作用

一文回顾了我国国有企业的发展历程。以及在不同历史阶段的作用,发展规律和目前的发展状况。文章认为,国有企业虽然在数量上和经济效益上有所下降,但仍起着国民经济支柱的作用。因此,国有企业应该把握机遇.尽快缩小与国际大企业之间的差距。     

社会养老服务机构的法律规制

我国养老服务机构存在分类混乱、资金匮乏、管理体系不明、人员缺乏、风险巨大等发展困境,迫切需要法律规制和引导。新修订的《老年人权益保障法》针对上述问题对社会养老服务机构作出了相应规范,但在社会养老服务机构的称谓、分类、监管和法律责任方面仍略显不足。可以考虑在《老年人权益保障法》中对社会养老服务机构的界定、分类标准、准入、管理等作系统规定,并完善相应配套法规。     

作业成本法产生与发展的宏观经济环境

在阐述现代制造业模式的基础上，分析了作业成本法对现代企业管理产生的巨大影响，同时，分析了作业成本法与国民经济信息化的辩证关系，并进一步探讨了作业成本法与价格、财政、产业调整的相互关系。研究结果认为，作业成本法不仅仅是企业会计中间接费用的一种分摊方法，它对宏观经济管理也将产生直接影响，同时，作业成本法的应用也需要宏观经济政策的引导。