Embedded Networks and Suboptimal Resource Matching in Alliance Formations

Interest has been growing in alliance networks, and research has demonstrated several advantages of embedded networks, including joint problem solving. How embedded networks function as social capital and promote alliance formation has also been explored. However, less is known about constraints that they impose on firms’ extensive search for partners. In this study, we advance our understanding of the downsides of embedded networks by proposing that embedded networks facilitate alliance formations, but they may also cause suboptimal resource matching in alliance formations. Specifically, we predict that, in alliances where initial resource matching is more important than ex post collaborative activities, suboptimal resource matching is more likely when firms ally with partners with which they have pre‐existing direct or indirect ties and that such alliances decrease firm‐level resource utilization performance in operations. Using codeshare alliance data from the global airline industry, we find support for our predictions.     

Dynamics and distribution patterns of acarine populations in stored-oat ecosystems

Summary Population dynamics and aggregation patterns of nine kinds of stored-grain mites were studied in two 7.5 tonne lots of hulled (cv. Random) and hulless (cv. Terra) oat cultivars with 12–14% moisture content stored in two wooden bins in Manitoba, Canada during 1978–84. Random oats harbored more mites than Terra oats.Lepidoglyphus destructor Schrank was the most common granivorous mite andCheyletus eruditus Shrank the most common predatory mite. Ecological data on a tydeid mite,Paratriophtydeus coineaui André, are presented for the first time. Because they were more abundant in Terra oats with higher fat acidity values (FAV) than Random oats with lower FAVs,L. destructor andTarsonemus granarius Lindquist could be used as bioindicators of spoilage of stored oats. All species analyzed showed some significant difference in their abundance at different depths in the grain bulk; some species showed depthxtime interaction. Aggregation patterns indicated most mite species had overdispersed (clumped) distribution.T. granarius, andBlattisocius keegani Fox-Androlaelaps casalis Berlese had a distinct aggregation pattern in each oat cultivar. Contribution No. 1373 from Agriculture Canada Research Station, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3T 2M9     

Process manipulation in unique implementation

We incorporate social influence into implementation theory, and highlight the manner in which an informed agent feels guilty with regard to disobeying an uninformed principal’s wishes. The degree of this feeling depends on the agent’s expectation of others’ behavioral modes. We demonstrate a method of process manipulation, through which the principal employs psychological tactics for incentivizing agents to announce information in keeping with his/her wishes. We indicate that with a version of incentive compatibility, the principal can implement any alternative that he/she wishes as the unique Nash equilibrium without employing any contractual device. Each agent’s psychological cost would be negligible.     

Repeated Games with Private Monitoring: Two Players

We investigate two‐player infinitely repeated games where the discount factor is less than but close to unity. Monitoring is private and players cannot communicate. We require no condition concerning the accuracy of players' monitoring technology. We show the folk theorem for the prisoners' dilemma with conditional independence. We also investigate more general games where players' private signals are correlated only through an unobservable macro shock. We show that efficiency is sustainable for generic private signal structures when the size of the set of private signals is sufficiently large. Finally, we show that cartel collusion is sustainable in price‐setting duopoly.     

Off the rivals’ radar in emerging market segments: Non-mutual rival recognition between new firms and incumbents

We examine the causes of non-mutual rival recognition—a situation in which new firms in emerging market segments recognize incumbents in pre-existing and potentially related market segments as rivals, but the incumbents do not recognize the new firms as rivals. Drawing upon the prototype theory, which makes use of cognitive representations or images in recognition processes, we argue that managers use rival prototypes in making sense of competitive environments. Specifically, we argue that non-mutual rival recognition occurs when new firms are not proximate to the incumbents' prototype of rivals because their organizational attributes, such as size and age, are highly distinct. It also occurs when it is difficult for incumbents, owing to their diversification into multiple product markets, or their strong identity as players in emerging market segments, to clearly assess new firms’ proximity to the prototype. Using the context of U.S. online retailers that went public between 1995 and 2001, we find support for our arguments.     

A granulosis virus, possible biological agent for control ofAdoxophyes orana (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) in apple orchards

Summary Based on the results of ecological surveys ofAdoxophyes orana and its natural enemies in apple orchards sprayed with the granulosis virus and control plots, we constructed working models to simulate the population dynamics in three different experimental plots; those treated with chemical insecticides, those with granulosis virus, and controls. The number of individuals killed by predators, parasitoids and by miscellaneous mortality factors could be calculated on the assumption of imperfect density relations; that is, relation of the number killed by each factor with the initial number of larvae was represented by a curve with an upper asymptote. We could estimate the proportion of virus infection using curves with upper asymptotes. Rate of increase from pupa to middle instar larvae of the next generation was subject to strong density-effect. Simulation we proposed in this paper suggests a possibility that a single spray of the virus at 1st generation can reduce not only the number ofA. orana larvae in the 2nd and 3rd generations but also the degree of fruits injured by this insect. Spray of chemical insecticide is considered to be ineffective in reducing the pest density and the degree of injury to low levels in subsequent generations, as compared with untreated plot, where the density of the 1st generation larvae is low.     

Between the Global Environmental Regime and Local Sustainability: A Local Review on the Inclusion, Failure and Reinventing Process of the Environmental Governance

Abstract: Japan has undergone drastic changes in ecological policy and practice over the past 40 years. Although this short history began with significant levels of pollution, notoriously termed “kogai”, the country seems to have achieved great ecological improvements, both technologically and institutionally, and now is one of the most highly ecologically modernized countries. But can this process really be posited as a simple, linear one of ecological modernization, a sort of natural, historical progress toward ideal environmental governance? This paper proposes some questions that cast doubt over this view. It focuses on local struggles for environmental governance, particularly in the city of Kamakura, which proclaimed itself an “environmental municipality” in 1993, a designation that seemingly fell by the wayside in 2001. Investigating this 8‐year case we can extract some lessons concerning the contradictions between global and local, and consequently about the inherent difficulties of top‐down environmental ordinances and insufficiently decentralized environmental governance. At the same time, through this case readers may also discover a new type of civic activity: cities with agriculture. After a short sketch of agri‐environmental movements, I will suggest that such movements are converging with more conventional ones and prevailing throughout the country. Therefore, the ecological modernization process can be seen to include a sort of restoration process: an updated return to perma‐cultural sustainability. Consequently, this essay contributes to international environmental discussion, not only by uncovering the cleavages between global and local, but also by suggesting the possibility of environmental governance alternative to technologically and institutionally driven ones.     

Bioaccessibility of Fukushima‐Accident‐Derived Cs in Soils and the Contribution of Soil Ingestion to Radiation Doses in Children

Ingestion of contaminated soil is one potential internal exposure pathway in areas contaminated by the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident. Doses from this pathway can be overestimated if the availability of radioactive nuclides in soils for the gastrointestinal tract is not considered. The concept of bioaccessibility has been adopted to evaluate this availability based on in vitro tests. This study evaluated the bioaccessibility of radioactive cesium from soils via the physiologically‐based extraction test (PBET) and the extractability of those via an extraction test with 1 mol/L of hydrochloric acid (HCl). The bioaccessibility obtained in the PBET was 5.3% ± 1%, and the extractability in the tests with HCl was 16% ± 3%. The bioaccessibility was strongly correlated with the extractability. This result indicates the possibility that the extractability in HCl can be used as a good predictor of the bioaccessibility with PBET. In addition, we assessed the doses to children from the ingestion of soil via hand‐to‐mouth activity based on our PBET results using a probabilistic approach considering the spatial distribution of radioactive cesium in Date City in Fukushima Prefecture and the interindividual differences in the surveyed amounts of soil ingestion in Japan. The results of this assessment indicate that even if children were to routinely ingest a large amount of soil with relatively high contamination, the radiation doses from this pathway are negligible compared with doses from external exposure owing to deposited radionuclides in Fukushima Prefecture.     

Production seat booking system for the combination of make-to-order and make-to-stock products

This study deals with the problem of the production seat booking system. Like an airline or train booking system, customers' orders are assigned a production seat. Using the production seat booking system, inquiries about the delivery for individual orders can be answered quickly. The key issues in the production seat booking system are: (1) In which manufacturing environments are the production seat booking system appropriate and efficient? (2) How should the production seat be set? (3) How should orders be assigned a production seat? A production planning model is formulated for a production seat booking system with a combination of make-to-order and maketo-stock as production environment. Two kinds of variables are set as policy in the model: one is a variable for setting production capacity and the other a variable for assigning orders a production seat. By focusing on the characteristics of market demand, this paper clarifies the following points: (1) How do these policy variables affect the manufactuiring performance? (2) How does the buffer inventory for make-to-stock product affect the degree of the delivery date satisfaction for make-toorder products? (3) Within what range should the two policy variables be set in order to maintain the unfilled-rate of maketo-stock product under the specified level and the degree of delivery date satisfaction for make-to-order products over the specified level? This paper presents a basis for designing for a production seat booking system through a series of numerical experiments.     

A Comparison between Basic Cyclic Scheduling and Variable Cyclic Scheduling in a Two‐stage Hybrid Flow Shop

In this paper the impacts of two types of repetitive scheduling systems on the makespan in a two‐stage hybrid flow shop, which consists of one machine in the first stage and multiple process lines in the second stage, are compared. First, we analyzed, through a simulation, how the makespan is affected by the setup frequency and sequencing rules for products under two types of scheduling systems: One is repetitive scheduling with only one batch per product family per scheduling cycle (basic cyclic scheduling system). The other is repetitive cyclic scheduling with various batches per product family per scheduling cycle (variable cyclic scheduling system). Second, we compared which scheduling system is superior under various manufacturing situations. The following points were noted. (1) The superior scheduling system can be shown by a two‐dimensional diagram of the setup frequency and the imbalance in workload for processing among process lines in the second stage. (2) Variable cyclic scheduling is superior in comparison with basic cyclic scheduling when there is a large imbalance in the workload to be processed among process lines in the second stage, or the workload in the second stage is larger than that in the first stage. The result of this research provides guidelines for selecting which scheduling system should be adopted.