Gauge imprecision effect on the performance of the &Xmacron;-S control chart

This paper examines the effect of stochastic measurement error (gauge imprecision) on the performance of Shewhart-type &Xmacron;-S control charts. It is shown that gauge imprecision may seriously affect the ability of the chart to detect process disturbances quickly or, depending on the point in time when the error occurs, the probability of erroneously signalling an out-of-control process state.     

Trust,Social Capital,and the Coordination of Relationships Between the Members of Cooperatives: A Comparison Between Member-Focused Cooperatives and Third-Party-Focused Cooperatives

In recent years, nonprofit scholars have increasingly studied the phenomenon of social enterprises which has become a generic term describing a wider reorientation among third sector organizations. The emergence of social enterprises has also led to a dynamic of hybridization and broadening in the cooperative sector, similar to an earlier dynamic of “economization”, but this time on the other end of the organizational spectrum. This paper aims at developing a fine-grained conceptual understanding of how this organizational dynamic is shaped in terms of member coordination, thus contributing to a more comprehensive theoretical understanding of different organizational forms of cooperatives. Specifically, to highlight the difference to traditional member-focused cooperatives, the paper introduces the term third-party-focused cooperatives for those social enterprises which emphasize economic goals as well as control and ownership by a particular community (typically place-based). The key result of the paper is that with the shift from member- to community-focus in cooperatives, the main coordination mechanism becomes one of norm-based trust on the basis of generalized reciprocity. In contrast to traditional maxim-based trust member coordination on the basis of relation-specific reciprocity, this enables third-party-focused cooperatives to mobilize bridging and linking social capital, facilitating collective action aimed towards the community interest. The findings suggest that this identity shift requires a mutual re-positioning between the cooperative and the nonprofit sector, in terms of umbrellas as well as regulatory and legislative bodies.     

Contextualizing the Governance of Community Co-operatives: Evidence from Austria and Germany

The article inquires into the role of the institutional context in explaining the governance of community co-operatives. These organizations do not solely focus on a member’s advantage but act on behalf of some collective identity. To enhance our understanding of the nature of co-operative governance on the neighborhood level, we draw on theoretical concepts that are context-sensitive, helping us to catch the institutional conditions in a specific place which are enabling individuals and groups to act and organize collectively. Thus, we enrich the abstract concept of governance put forward by New Institutional Economics. Based on a systematic analysis of case studies, the paper shows that the governance of community co-operatives is based on place-bound values. However, the encounter of divergent imaginations of the neighborhood results in different co-operative practices: e.g., either a government-directed practice to “discipline” the community or a community-initiated practice of self-organization.     

创业投资:德国和美国的比较研究

在对美国和德国的创业投资的调查研究中,对照美国的研究结果,向德国的创业投资家调查了以下两个问题:1)在评估一项投资的时候创业投资家更看重创业者什么?2)根据一项创业投资计划,他们怎样与创业企业合作。调查结果显示,在创业的早期阶段和扩张阶段,德国创业投资家评估一项商业计划时,比较关注创业企业的发展潜力。他们强调,创业者所表现出的领导才能和对市场的熟悉程度是决定创业投资的必要条件。晚期阶段的创业投资家与早期阶段的创业投资家相比,不太容易和创业者成为亲密伙伴;他们对创业企业所提供的管理帮助也比较少。创业投资公司的规模在很大程度上影响创业投资的某些投资特征。与美国的研究结果相似,大规模的创业投资公司和小规模的创业投资公司运作的差异主要在于平均投资规模。在德国,随着创业投资公司规模的扩大,其投资的地域范围也在扩大。至于投资过程,当创业投资公司是主要投资者时,投资公司的规模与其所花费的评估和沟通时间(从开始与创业者接洽到进行融资之间)负相关。融资的准备时间与创业投资公司的员工数之间的关系,小规模的创业投资公司更有效率。     

Der Einfluss von Kognition und Affekt auf Unternehmensgründungsentscheidungen: Eine vergleichende Analyse von Angestellten und Unternehmern

The relationship between individuals?? entrepreneurial behavior and objective situational characteristics of an entrepreneurial opportunity??individual-opportunity nexus??lies in the focus of entrepreneurship research. The role of subjective appraisals and affective influences in the pre-entrepreneurial process was neglected in this context so far. On the basis of a questionnaire experiment with two different samples of employees and entrepreneurs, our results confirm central assumptions of cognitive appraisal and emotion theories. The subjective appraisals of objective entrepreneurial opportunities better predict entrepreneurial evaluation and exploitation decisions than the objective characteristics of the entrepreneurial opportunity. Furthermore, the results show in addition to an inverse direct effect of negative affect that the relationship between the entrepreneurial evaluation and exploitation is negatively moderated by negative affect. Our analyses indicate that the two subsamples show differences in their cognitive processes, but that they are still generally comparable. The affective influences on the pre-entrepreneurial process, however, demonstrate no group specific differences. These results extend the individual-opportunity-nexus-paradigm that is based on objective characteristics by examining the meaning of subjective appraisals and affective reactions and therefore the intersection of individuals and entrepreneurial opportunities.     

The combination of forecasts in the trading of electricity from renewable energy sources

The legal support provided by the ‘Act on Granting Priority to Renewable Energy Sources’ (German Erneuerbare Energien Gesetz, EEG) and its precursor has in the last 20 years led to a marked growth in Germany in the use of renewable energies to generate electricity. As a result of the EEG amendment adopted in the summer of 2011 and in force since 1 January 2012, the market integration of electricity generated from renewable energy sources (RES-E) has become more important. Consequently, the economic importance of trading RES-E has also increased. A major role in determining costs in trading electricity from wind and solar energy on the wholesale markets plays the forecasting method used. If a forecast inaccurately predicts the amount of electricity actually generated, one result could be elevated costs in the trading process. In the beginning of this article we introduce the legal framework governing the trading of RES-E. Subsequently, we present a method for combining several individual forecasting methods. Finally, using empirical data, we show that in comparison to the best available individual forecast, the proposed combined forecast results in a clear improvement of forecasting quality as well as in a reduction in trading costs.