A study of expediting practices in manufacturing firms

Abstract

This paper presents the results of an empirical investigation of one of the most common yet least optimized production management practices—expediting. The intention of this study was to generate quantitative insight into issues that underlie expediting decision making, such as the relative frequency of various causes of expediting, commonly used expediting strategies and tactics, and the interaction of expediting and the production scheduling environment in use. The study centered around a survey sent to 1768 manufacturing staff personnel, with 182 usable questionnaires returned. It is hoped that the data and conclusions presented in this paper will be of use to production management researchers who are interested in expediting as a managerial decision.     

AN INTERNATIONAL ARBITRAGE PRICING MODEL WITH PPP DEVIATIONS

This paper derives an intertemporal, international arbitrage pricing model that relaxes more assumptions than previous asset pricing paradigms. The analysis shows how risk, risk premia, and the translation of these variables between all real and nominal numeraires depend upon a small number of stochastic state variables that define the economy's production and credit opportunities. When the model is applied to the forward exchange market, it highlights the potentially central role of real exchange rates in determining the evolution of forward exchange risk premia.     

Bayesian Goodness of Fit Testing with Mixtures of Triangular Distributions

Abstract.  We consider the consistency of the Bayes factor in goodness of fit testing for a parametric family of densities against a non-parametric alternative. Sufficient conditions for consistency of the Bayes factor are determined and demonstrated with priors using certain mixtures of triangular densities.     

CAPITAL GAINS AND THE RATE OF RETURN ON A STRADIVARIUS

What is the return on a Stradivarius? The return equals the capital gain. The return on specific violin sales averages 2.17 percent. The best Stradivariuses were made in the “Golden Period.” Prices were significantly higher for Golden Period violins than for the other three periods examined. However, the rate of return was not significantly different for the four periods, with an overall return of 2.18 percent. When other factors (insurance, taxation and user benefits) were taken into account the rate of return varied between 4.7 and 1.2 percent.     

“Troublemakers” in Tassels and C‐Strings: Striptease Dancers and the Union Question in Vancouver, 1965–1980*

En mettant l'accent sur la ville portuaire de Vancouver en Colombie‐Britannique, cet article examine les tentatives des effeuilleuses qui militaient pour la syndicalisation et la négotiation collective durant l'“age d'or” de l'industrie de 1965 à 1980. Des entrevues avec des danseuses retraitées, des propriétaires de clubs et des agents de placement révèlent cinq principales pierres d'achoppement à la création d'un syndicat: a) main‐d'ceuvre peu nombreuse et transitoire; b) compétition entre les danseuses en tant qu'entrepreneures indépendantes; c) conditions de travail dans une industrie quasi criminalisée et stigmatisée; d) efforts résolus des propriétaires de clubs et des agents pour contrecarrer l'agitation des travailleuses et pour punir les “meneuses” et e) obstacles a la syndicalisation intrinsèques a la loi provinciale du travail. Focussing on the port city of Vancouver, British Columbia, this paper examines attempts by striptease dancers to agitate for union membership and collective bargaining during the industry's “golden era” from 1965 to 1980. Interviews with retired dancers, club owners, and booking agents reveal five central stumbling blocks to dancers' union formation: a) the small and transient work force; b) competition among dancers as independent contractors; c) working conditions in a quasi‐criminalized, stigmatized business; d) the resolute efforts of club owners and agents to stymie agitation and punish “ringleaders”; and e) barriers to organizing intrinsic to provincial labour law.     

The Similarity of Political Values of Parents and College-age Youths

Studies of college students over the past decade have most ofteninferred a high rate of intergenerational continuity of politicalvalues. In contrast, political socialization studies have concludedthat parent-youth similarity is low to moderate except in thecase of party identification. Analysis of interviews with arepresentative national sample of seventeen- to twenty-three-years-olds,along with independent interviews with their parents, supportsthe political socialization tradition for nonstudents and studentsalike, including student activists and students at elite colleges.     

Research Note: The Social Behaviour of Injecting Drug Users

Correspondence to Professor J. G. Barber, School of Social Work, Newnham Drive, Newnham, P.O. Box 1214, Launceston, Tesmania 7250, Australia. Summary As part of a larger interview schedule conducted with 1245 injectingdrug users in Sydney, Australia, respondents were asked aboutthe degree to which their drug use is conducted within a groupcontext. They were also asked about the size of their user groupsand the extent of needle-sharing that occurs in the groups.Results revealed that injecting drug use was a social behaviourapproximately half of the time for the overall sample, but thatthere were statistically significant differences according tothe age, gender, and drug experience of the user. The studyalso found an alarming amount of needle-sharing among the sampleoverall. Females, younger users, and those less experiencedin injecting drug use were more inclined to inject in groups,while needle-sharing was more common among older and more experiencedusers.     

ON THE RELATIVE EFFICIENCY OF CASH TRANSFERS AND SUBSIDIES

This paper considers the relative efficiency of cash grants and subsidies when society's goal is to raise the welfare of a household. When the head of the household makes all consumption decisions, a principal-agent problem is created: the head acts as the agent of the government in allocating the transferred resources. Subsidies to commodities with particular characteristics may be a more efficient way to guarantee that benefits are shared within the household. Though related to the old notion of paternalism, this theory leads to more specific predictions regarding the kinds of commodities that can be efficiently subsidized.