EXPROPRIATION OF MULTINATIONAL FIRMS: THE ROLE OF DOMESTIC MARKET CONDITIONS AND DOMESTIC RIVALRIES

The causes of expropriation of Multinational Firms (MNFs) by their host governments are investigated, based on social welfare analysis and also on public choice theory. A key feature is the presence of Cournot-Nash rivalry with domestic firms. Thus, the likelihood of expropriation differs according to whether or not a domestic rival exists. The likelihood also depends on the MNF's initial technological superiority over domestic technology, the host country's demand structure, the type of control to be exercised over the expropriated firm (private vs. state) and the strategic behavior of the MNF, ex anti, when under threat of expropriation.     

SKILLED‐UNSKILLED WAGE INEQUALITY AND URBAN UNEMPLOYMENT

The impact of trade liberalization on the labor market in the North has drawn tremendous attention in the face of the growing skilled‐unskilled wage gap but in the South it has been somewhat neglected. One of the key structural differences between the North and the South is that the South experiences a pronounced rural‐urban migration in the presence of urban unemployment. We introduce this feature in the structure of a simple general equilibrium model to analyze the effects of trade liberalization and fragmentation on employment and the skilled‐unskilled wage differential in the South. In particular, we show that while fragmentation necessarily improves the unskilled wage and the skilled wage, more lucrative global opportunities for the skilled final product, in the absence of fragmentation, can reduce the rural wage and increase urban unemployment. The effect of fragmentation, ceteris paribus, on the skilled‐unskilled wage gap is sensitive to the degree of substitutability between land and unskilled labor. As such, fragmentation can magnify the increase in the skilled‐unskilled wage gap resulting from an improvement in the terms of trade. It is also shown that a technological progress in the intermediate goods sector increases the skilled‐unskilled wage gap and raises urban unemployment. (JEL F1, O1, F11, F12)     

APPLYING SCENARIO‐DRIVEN STRATEGY TO INTEGRATE ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT AND PRODUCT DESIGN

The successful development of breakthrough products with environmental attributes can not only create competitive advantage through operations excellence but also benefit the environment. This paper proposes a comprehensive scenario‐driven method with detailed implementation steps for planning and developing breakthrough products with environmental attributes. A case study based on the development process of biotechnology products is presented to show the applications of the method and the resulting importance of flexibility as a key ingredient in operations strategy. The paper also discusses various operational, marketing, technological, economic, and environmental issues concerning the development of biotechnology products, an area that could have a significant impact on both human health and the natural environment.     

A methodology for the design of manufacturing systems using group technology

The primary objectives in implementing computer integrated manufacturing systems (CIMS) are to improve quality, enhance flexibility, and increase productivity. One of the approaches used to achieve these objectives is to organize and group the production machines into manufacturing cells using group technology concepts. Cellular manufacturing allows small batch production to gain economic advantages similar to mass production while maintaining the flexibility of job shop production. This paper presents a methodology which uses design and manufacturing attributes to form manufacturing cells in a computer integrated manufacturing setting. The methodology is implemented in two phases. In phase I, parts are grouped into part families based on their design and manufacturing attributes. In phase II of the methodology, the machines are grouped into manufacturing cells based on relevant operational costs, and the various cells are assigned part families using an optimization technique. The optimization technique employs integer programming to minimize the total operational costs.     

Residuals in the Extended Growth Curve Model

Abstract.  The Extended Growth Curve model is considered. It turns out that the estimated mean of the model is the projection of the observations on the space generated by the design matrices which turns out to be the sum of two tensor product spaces. The orthogonal complement of this space is decomposed into four orthogonal spaces and residuals are defined by projecting the observation matrix on the resulting components. The residuals are interpreted and some remarks are given as to why we should not use ordinary residuals, what kind of information our residuals give and how this information might be used to validate model assumptions and detect outliers and influential observations. It is shown that the residuals are symmetrically distributed around zero and are uncorrelated with each other. The covariance between the residuals and the estimated model as well as the dispersion matrices for the residuals are also given.