Business games and implementation research

This paper reviews some recent research in OR implementation and suggests that a new approach is required, which will take fuller account of the perceptions of managers concerned with the problem. Research games in business settings seem to offer a means for such approach. Some lessons learned from a business game used in this way are described and their implications for modelbuilders are discussed.     

The elderly in the shopping centers: the usability study of semipublic spaces as attractiveness generator

This article aims to study the importance of the attributes of usability and attractiveness for the semi-public spaces of Shopping Centers considering the elderly users, the psycho-cognitive and bio-physiological changes resulting from the aging process, as well as their expectations of the built space. Through a qualitative study of theoretical review with a multidisciplinary focus in architecture, ergonomics, gerontology, environmental psychology and management, the conditions of the elderly users were identified, and also the attributes related to usability and attractiveness, collected in order to understand and organize their interrelationships, to suggest recommendations about the drafting of Shopping Centers, aiming to generate projects and environments that should promote the efficient and satisfactory use for elderly and may also create a competitive advantage for these enterprises.     

Pathways to solutions

Problems may be viewed from many different angles and in many different ways. The order in which facts are collected, the attitudes of the people involved in the problem, the climate in which the problem finds itself to be, all play their parts in determining what the problem is perceived to be and how it is tackled. This paper reports on the several ways in which an apparently simple problem was approached and recognises that the process of solution which is adopted can dictate the eventual outcome and determine what the recommendations will be.     

Government,management and the environmental crisis

In case there should be any doubt that the human predicament will soon be a global crisis the reasons why this must be so are discussed. The increased use of resources and the growing dependence on a fuel-based technology are crisis enough, but to this is added the growing population of the part of the world less advanced in technology, where attitudes are different and cannot be changed to conform to the richer population's idea of what is what in the world.Most of our problems are created because the total effect of an operation is not properly considered when it is undertaken for the part that is wanted. Thus the rich countries have got themselves into a predicament the fault for which the poor see lying entirely with the rich, while the rich see the danger in the growing poor populations.The mechanism of evolution by selection from spontaneous variety must be followed because we cannot foresee needs. To keep the process healthy we must retain room for manoeuvre and choice and we must studiously avoid trying to operate monolithic technological ways of maintaining our society.Policies should seek to anticipate the imminent pressures of the future so as to retain freedom of movement, and the most obvious policy should be to make the price of fuel artificially high to conserve resources and stimulate the right kind of new technologies.     

Does financial development affect income inequality in the U.S. States?

This paper examines the role of financial development on U.S. state-level income inequality in the 50 states from 1976 to 2011, using fixed-effect estimation. We find robust results whereby financial development linearly increases income inequality for the 50 states. When we divide 50 states into two separate groups of above-average and below-average inequality states than the cross-state average inequality, the effect of financial development on income inequality appears non-linear. When financial development improves, the effect increases at an increasing rate for above-average income-inequality states, whereas an inverted U-shaped relationship exists for below-average income-inequality states. To our knowledge, this paper is the first to examine the role of financial development on U.S. state-level inequality.     

Adapting production for private label goods

Linear Programming (LP) is a valuable tool of operational research and has been applied successfully to problems of production scheduling, particularly in the process industries. It is dependent to a large degree on forecasts of demand for the products: when demand is erratic, production scheduling suffers, whatever the technique employed. LP is sometimes adopted, however, in situations which do not necessarily warrant its use. Such a case arose when considering the production difficulties of private label goods in the food industry. The problem was eventually modified with the full cooperation of management, despite initial opposition. The solution found was to adapt as a company to market conditions, instead of forcing the production function to operate within artificial constraints.     

A conceptual model for barrier free facilities planning

This paper presents the proposal of a model for planning a barrier free industrial facilities, considering the demands that inclusion requires, ranging from outside the factory (social environment), to the needs of the production system and the workstation. Along with literature review, the demands were identified in a shoe manufacturer that employs people with disabilities, and organized taxonomically in agreement with the structure for planning facilities. The results show that the problems are not primarily related to eliminating architectural barriers and factors aimed at preventing risks to people's health and safety but, rather, are related to the company's cultural environment, because the main hazards are managerial. In special cases, it is suggested there is a need to adjust those parts of tasks that the worker cannot do, or even to re-schedule work so as to make it possible for employees with disabilities to perform their tasks.     

Scientific method and the environmental scene: the need for an experimenting,evolving society

The idea is abroad that there is a technique, called the scientific method, which solves problems: this is a fallacy: and there is no certainty that solutions are even possible. Malthus's warning was correct and growth of population and consumption is now almost out of control. Evolutionary mechanisms have been stultified so that they no longer guarantee the creation of higher forms, and the variety on which it thrives has been destroyed. Planners plan as if they were planning the result of an election instead of merely the election itself. They do not understand freedom nor its value for a healthy society. Instead they have organised the proliferation of the illiterate and the unemployed.