THE WORLD OIL CRISIS: A PORTFOLIO INTERPRETATION

This paper applies the mean-variance portfolio model to the analysis of one facet of the production decision confronting the oil exporting countries. Specifically we assume that the countries in question seek the optimal solution to the problem of diversifying their assets between oil reserves in the ground and other non-petroleum investment alternatives. With respect to the group of countries which tend to accumulate money resources in excess of their domestic development needs (e. g., Saudi Arabia and Kuwait) the availability of an "inflation-proof" investment outlet whose principal and interest are linked to a general index of the change in world prices is likely to enhance these countries' incentive to extract oil from the ground on portfolio considerations alone.     

AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF ADOPTION

This paper estimates the supply of adoptions using a decision-making economic framework of desired fertility and family size. The empirical results show that the decision to place a child for adoption is negatively related to a woman's labor force participation, the size of Aid to Families with Dependent Children payments and the unemployment rate, and is positively related to her marital status, education, and religious affiliation. The price and availability of abortions are found to have no statistically significant effect on the adoption decision. Furthermore, state regulations designed to encourage adoptions have no impact on the adoption option.     

CAMPBELL SOUP'S CONTINUOUS REPLENISHMENT PROGRAM: EVALUATION AND ENHANCED INVENTORY DECISION RULES

Campbell Soup's continuous replenishment (CR) program is a novel innovation designed to improve the efficiency of inventory management throughout the supply chain. With CR (1) retailers pay a constant wholesale price but continue to participate in consumer promotions, (2) retailers transmit to the supplier daily inventory information via electronic data interchange (EDI), and (3) the supplier assumes responsibility for managing retailer inventories, i.e., vendor managed inventories (VMI). We develop simple inventory management rules to operate CR, and we test these rules with a simulation using actual demand data provided by Campbell Soup. On this sample we find that retailer inventories were reduced on average by 66% while maintaining or increasing average fill rates. This improvementreduces a retailer's cost of goods sold by 1.2%, which is significant in the low profitmargin grocery industry. Furthermore, these savings could have been achieved without VMI.     

Feminist theory and critical theory

Je passe en revue, dans cet article, certains problèmes clés des théories socialistes-féministes de la reproduction de ľoppression des femmes; et j'appelle à un dialogue plus soutenu entre théorie féministe et 'théorie critique'. Bien que cette dernière ait jusqu'à maintenant peu étudié les questions de sexe, on les trouve en filigrane dans les thèmes principaux de la théorie critique. De plus, ces questions représentent une illustration de choix du besoin de reformulation des problématiques marxiennes traditionnelles si ľon veut mieux comprendre les formes complexes de domination inexplicables par la relation capital/salaire. Je crois qu'il est possible de reconstruire la théorie féministe au moyen de la théorie critique de façon à plus clairement articuler le role de ľaction sociale dans la reproduction et la transformation des structures de domination; cette reconstruction pourra aussi fonder la transformation socialiste sur la base de valeurs féministes.
This paper reviews key problems in current socialist-feminist theories of the reproduction of women's oppression, and argues for increased dialogue between feminist theory and 'critical theory'. While gender has not been a focus of critical theory, it is implicated in its central themes, and provides a ready illustration of the need to reframe the traditional Marxian problematic to more adequately understand complex forms of domination that cannot be explained by the capital/wage relationship. It is suggested that work in the tradition of critical theory may be instructive in reconstructing socialist feminist theory to articulate more clearly the role of agency in both reproducing and transforming structures of domination, and in grounding feminist values as a basis for socialist transformation.     

THE EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF SEXUAL DISCRIMINATION

"Equality Of Rights Under The Law Shall Not Be Denied Or Abridged By The United States Or By Any State On Account Of Sex"— Proposed Equal Rights Amendment     

CONFIGURING A SUPPLY CHAIN TO REDUCE THE COST OF DEMAND UNCERTAINTY

Reducing lead time enables a company to react more quickly to demand information and, hence, to better match supply with uncertain demand. But it is only one lever for improving response capability. Managers are familiar with others (e.g., excess capacity, supplier choice, and so forth) but lack techniques to quantify the impact of adjusting these levers. Here, we enumerate a number of these levers and present a model whereby they might be combined into effective response capability. The impact of adjusting these levers is illustrated by data obtained from a skiwear manufacturer that did so. Some of the insights that resulted run counter to intuition.