ALBERT

Description: This research focuses on the effects of different business process management components in combination with information technology on recruiting process performance. The results of a study of Germany’s largest 1,000 business enterprises (response rate 13.1 %) reveal that business process analysis, business process improvement and the usage of applicant tracking systems reduce recruiting process costs. Specifically, the cycle time of the recruiting process can be shortened significantly through business process controlling and process analysis, and by using an applicant tracking system that supports the design and evaluation of key performance indicators. Business process standardization combined with applicant tracking systems and business process documentation as well these systems used together with business process controlling have a significant positive impact on stakeholder satisfaction with the recruiting process. The general quality of the process can be improved through business process controlling as well as through a combination of applicant tracking systems and business process controlling. Our results reveal that several components of the business process management in conjunction with a supporting applicant tracking system have differing impacts on recruiting process performance. This paper discusses these diverse effects of business process management on process performance and draws implications for information systems success research.

Description: This paper seeks to analyze the dynamical structure of the Indian stock market by considering two major Indian stock market indices, namely, BSE Sensex and CNX Nifty. The recurrence quantification analysis (RQA) is applied on the daily closing data of the two series during the period from January 2, 2002, to October 10, 2013. A Rolling Window of 100 and step size 21 are applied in order to see how both the series behave over time. The analysis based on three RQA measures, namely, % determinism (DET), laminarity (LAM), and trapping time (TT), provides conclusive evidence that the Indian equity market is chaotic in nature. Evidences for phase transition in the Indian equity market around the time of financial crisis are also found.

Description: In many enterprises and other types of organizations, decision making is both a crucial and a challenging task. Despite their importance, many decisions are still made based on experience and intuition rather than on evidence supported by rigorous approaches. Decisions are often made this way because of lack of data, unknown relationships between data and goals, conflicting goals, and poorly understood risks. This research presents a goal-oriented, business intelligence-supported methodology for decision making. The methodology, which is iterative, allows enterprises to begin with limited data, discover required data to build their models, capture stakeholders goals, and model threats, opportunities, and their impact. It also enables the aggregation of Key Performance Indicators and their integration into goal models. The tool-supported methodology and its models aim to enhance the user’s experience with common business intelligence applications. Managers can monitor the impact of decisions on the organization's goals and improve both decision models and business processes. The approach is illustrated and evaluated through a retail business scenario, from which several lessons were learned. One key lesson is that once an organization has a goal model, data can be added iteratively. The example, tool support, and lessons suggest the feasibility of the methodology.

Description: In this paper, a mathematical model to petroleum derivatives transportation scheduling is developed. The problem discussed in this paper is concerned with the scheduling of one-source tree-structured pipeline connected to several output terminals. A tree-structured pipeline is composed of a mainline conveying high-volume of petroleum products over long ways and secondary lines transporting smaller volumes over shorter distances. In such a pipeline, batches of petroleum products are pumped back-to-back at the origin of the mainline, without any separation device between them. This paper introduces a continuous mathematical representation, mixed integer linear programming, for the operational planning of tree-structured pipeline systems. Previous contributions on tree-structured pipeline planning deal with the sequence deliveries at receiving terminals, i.e., at any time only a unique terminal receives material from the pipeline. On the contrary, the proposed approach permits a receiving terminal on the mainline to simultaneously receive products when one of the secondary lines is taking material from the mainline. The problem’s aim is to find the optimal sequences of product injection and dispatching operations that satisfy product demands at minimum total cost, accounting for pumping and backordered demand costs during the specified planning horizon. The approach has been validated by solving three case studies of growing complexity.

Description: The developing and least developed countries in the South and Southeast Asia have emerged as dynamic hosts of foreign direct investment; and inbound FDI growth surpassed that of the developing world during the decade 2001–2010. Yet foreign investment continues to flow quite unevenly into individual countries in the region, although majority of the Asian countries do emphasize liberalization unilaterally, bilaterally under the bilateral investment treaty (BIT) and the bilateral trade agreement (BTA), and regionally under the regional trade agreement (RTA). Under such scenarios, this study empirically assesses FDI determinants with a specific focus on the FDI effects of BIT, BTA, and RTA as well as of factors pertaining to institutional quality. Gravity-type econometric results of unbalanced panel data uncover that BIT, BTA, and RTA promote FDI insignificantly. It appears that the role of bilateral instruments in stimulating the inflow of foreign capital diminishes if liberal FDI policies already exist in the host country. Under such circumstances, the quality of the host country’s legal and regulatory environment exerts a profound influence on firms’ investment decisions. Nonetheless, core gravity variables are found to be important determinants of FDI.JEL Classification: C33, F21, F23.

Description: Distributors are faced with loading constraints in their route planning, e.g.,multi-dimensional packing constraints, unloading sequence constraints, stability constraints and axle weight limits. Ignoring these constraints impairs planning and induces last-minute changes resulting in additional costs. Developing vehicle routing models incorporating loading constraints is critical to more efficient route planning. The last couple of years has seen a huge increase of contributions to this field of research with almost 60 % of these being published after 2009. Our contribution is twofold. First, we overview the recent developments in the literature on all vehicle types in which loading constraints play a key role (trucks, airplanes, ships, and automated guided vehicles), using a state-of-the-art classification scheme to identify the loading constraints considered in each article. Second, we identify research gaps and opportunities for future research.

Description: Domänenspezifische Modellierungssprachen (engl.: “domain-specific modeling languages”, DSMLs) versprechen deutliche Vorteile gegenüber universellen Modellierungssprachen. Ihr Entwurf ist allerdings mit einer essentiellen Herausforderung verbunden. Um ansehnliche Skaleneffekte zu erreichen, empfiehlt sich die Entwicklung von DSMLs, die in einer größeren Nutzungsbandbreite einsetzbar sind. Gleichzeitig spricht der Gewinn an Modellierungsproduktivität im Einzelfall für Sprachkonzepte, die an individuelle Anforderungen angepasst sind. In dem vorliegenden Beitrag wird ein neuartiger Ansatz zur konzeptuellen Modellierung wie auch zur Konstruktion von Informationssystemen präsentiert, der durch die faktische Nutzung von Fachsprachen inspiriert ist – die Mehrebenen-Modellierung. Im Unterschied zu traditionellen Spracharchitekturen wie der „Meta Object Facility“ (MOF) basiert er auf einer rekursiven Architektur, die eine beliebige Zahl von Klassifikationsebenen ermöglicht und dadurch den Entwurf von Sprachhierarchien – von einer Referenz-DSML bis hin zu „lokalen“ DSMLs – erlaubt. Auf diese Weise wird nicht nur der essentielle Konflikt des Entwurfs von DSMLs deutlich entschärft, sondern auch die Wiederverwendung und Integration von Software-Komponenten im Allgemeinen gefördert. Zudem ermöglicht der Ansatz die Reduktion von Modellkomplexität, indem er die Dichotomie von Spezialisierung und Instanzierung teilweise aufhebt. Darüber hinaus integriert er eine Metamodellierungssprache mit dem Metamodell einer Metaprogrammiersprache, wodurch ausführbare Modelle ermöglicht werden. Die Spezifikation der Spracharchitektur wird ergänzt durch die Darstellung von Anwendungsszenarien, die die Potentiale der Mehrebenen-Modellierung verdeutlichen, sowie eine kritische Betrachtung ihrer Besonderheiten.

Description: This paper examines the technological, market, industry and institutional sources associated with the cross-national heterogeneity in e-retail spending. We used the economic theory of complementarities as the theoretical framework and estimated panel data models for 10 year data from 43 countries to test our hypotheses. We identified various activities and resources in the e-retail ecosystems that may produce positive or negative externalities in the development of the e-retail industry. We found that broadband Internet is an important determinant of an economy’s e-readiness in explaining international heterogeneity in e-retail spending. We also found various specific attributes of the traditional retail environment that produce enhancing effects as well as suppressing effects for e-retail spending.

Description: In this article, we consider the generalized Erlang risk model and its dual model. By using a conditional measure-preserving correspondence between the two models, we derive an identity for two interesting conditional probabilities. Applications to the discounted joint density of the surplus prior to ruin and the deficit at ruin are also discussed.

Description: Kusuoka representations provide an important and useful characterization of law invariant coherent risk measures in atomless probability spaces. However, the applicability of these results is limited by the fact that such representations do not always exist in probability spaces with atoms, such as finite probability spaces. We introduce the class of functionally coherent risk measures, which allow us to use Kusuoka representations in any probability space. We show that this class contains every law invariant risk measure that can be coherently extended to a family containing all finite discrete distributions. Thus, it is possible to preserve the desirable properties of law invariant coherent risk measures on atomless spaces without sacrificing generality. We also specialize our results to risk measures on finite probability spaces, and prove a denseness result about the family of risk measures with finite Kusuoka representations.

Description: Earthquake usually causes grievous damages especially in the earthquake prone areas. Building a fast and effective relief system is very important. China Red Cross is the largest humanitarian organizations in China. To improve its disaster response system, reserving relief supplies gets more and more attentions. In this article, a decision making programming based on the data envelopment analysis method is proposed in the construction of reserve network for China Red Cross with three factors, including cost, risk and utility. Four warehouses are selected and the optimal allocation strategies are obtained under the principles of equity and effectiveness which should be obeyed in humanitarian assistance.

Description: We investigate the impact of heterogeneity in the amount of incoming traffic routed by dispatchers in a non-cooperative load balancing game. For a fixed amount of total incoming traffic, we show that for a broad class of cost functions the worst-case social cost occurs when each dispatcher routes the same amount of traffic, that is, the game is symmetric. Using this result, we give lower bounds on the Price of Anarchy for (i) cost functions that are polynomial on server loads; and (ii) cost functions representing the mean delay of the shortest remaining processing time service discipline.

Description: We study the influences of new-firm start-ups on growth at the regional and macroeconomic level in France using a quarterly database over the 1993–2011 period. We find that fluctuations in GDP are an early indicator of new-firm start-ups. Nevertheless, the most important relationships are found between the unemployment rate and new-firm start-ups. Entrepreneurship is mainly driven by an unemployment “push” effect that have consequences upon the potential of growth of new-firm start-ups in most of the French regions. The Île-de France region is an exception since the “Schumpeter” effect prevails in the long term.

Description: Expanding entrepreneurial enterprises move from high-cost (congestion, wages and rent) locations where they innovated to low-cost (smaller, less agglomerated) places suitable for standardised production. Net inter-regional relocations of British SMEs are predicted in part by this development pattern. SMEs that relocate are more productive, relatively larger and younger, as well as more probably initially located in London and the South East (core locations). These fast-growing businesses become even more productive and employ even more workers after moving than regionally immobile SMEs. In this respect, the UK regional core supports the periphery through a market process. Relocation is also a strategy for contracting enterprises, but not necessarily a helpful for smaller companies.

Description: Mobile Health (m-Health) system architectures are typically based on mobile and wireless communications, and use mobile devices with data exchange supported by Web Services. Although m-Health systems offer mobility as a potential and precious resource they also present several challenged issues and constraints, such as, battery and storage capacity, broadcast constraints, interferences, disconnections, noises, limited bandwidths, and network delays. Furthermore, constant mobility and often-required Internet connectivity also exposes and compromises the privacy and confidentiality of the m-Health system information. This paper proposes a novel data encryption solution for mobile health systems, considering a novel and early-proposed cooperation strategy. This encryption solution, tries to guarantee the best confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity of m-Health systems users data. The paper also presents a performance evaluation study comparing the performance an m-Health application with and without the DE4MHA.

Description: The growing need to innovate with IT requires well-founded analysis of IT innovation investments. However, the time lag between such investments and the realization of an uncertain long-term value contribution challenges companies because of a conflict between short-term corporate management and the desire to maximize the company’s long-term company value. Complexity, inexperience, and high outcome uncertainty also make IT innovation investments risky, particularly as the investments relate to existing hardware, software, and human resources, and can affect the processes, products, and services of nearly every business unit in a company. This paper proposes an integrated long- and short-term valuation approach that incorporates an IT innovation investment’s effect on the value of a company’s IT portfolio. The approach simultaneously accounts for risks and interdependencies, and uses sensitivity analysis in the context of an application example to provide research and practice recommendations.

Description: Modern macroeconomics has failed in the analysis of both the US banking and the euro crises, respectively, and there is also a rather inadequate view on a range of relevant policy issues. The approach presented herein looks at the reasons for analytical failure and suggests means of improvement – picking up proposals from the literature as well as contributing new ones. The economics profession did not anticipate the banking crisis and there is reluctance to switch to a new paradigm for stabilization policy analysis. Beyond this, there are several analytical challenges which should be integrated into a post-crisis approach: for example, the question of the true degree of economic openness and the role of multinational companies. Moreover, the macroeconomic impact of the digital economic expansion is largely underestimated. The traditional view on asset bubbles has become doubtful. A new paradigm should emphasize the triple analytical challenge of short-term financial market analysis, the routine new questioning of the systemic stability of economic systems and standard macroeconomic modeling – with some refinements; a “Schumpeterian Mundell-Fleming-Solow-Akerlof-model” and sustainability aspects are important on the one hand, on the other hand NKM models have to integrate a broader array of market imperfections. The perspectives presented could jump-start a new paradigm that combines a more realistic macro perspective with a complementary critical institutional analysis.

Description: The role of the Arctic region in global petroleum supply over the next decades is becoming a subject of increasing interest as the potential of the region’s geology is revealed and the shrinking of the ice cap makes drilling an increasingly feasible activity. Nevertheless, significant concerns remain, not least the potential impact of any hydrocarbon E&P activity in an environmentally sensitive region. In addition, the lack of existing infrastructure and the likely high cost of any development in geographically remote and climatically harsh conditions mean that the economics of any new project will depend to a large extent on the size of discoveries and the oil price, which, in turn, will be impacted by the development of other sources of oil supply (for example, US unconventional oil) and alternative energies. As a result, although increased activity in a number of Arctic countries suggests that the region could become a major source of future oil supply, there are a number of challenges – including the impact of sanctions resulting from the Ukraine crisis – to be met before this potential can be realized. The objective of this paper is to provide an updated overview of offshore oil and gas developments in the Arctic and to discuss the potential for large-scale development of the region as a petroleum province over the next 20-30 years, thereby providing a starting point for future production estimates and for analyzing how relevant such estimates may be for global oil (and gas) markets. The paper argues that the most likely Arctic offshore areas to be developed first are the Barents Sea and the Kara Sea but that various factors – political, commercial, technological and environmental – have the potential to hamper petroleum development, particularly if the conflict between Russia and the international community continues to escalate, as partnership will be critical if the Arctic resources of the country with the largest geography in the region are to be developed successfully. Executive Summary The post The Prospects and Challenges for Arctic Oil Development appeared first on Oxford Institute for Energy Studies .

Description: The explosion of health-related costs in U.S. firms over more than a decade is a huge concern for managers. The initiation of Health and Safety (H&S) programs at the firm level is an adequate Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative to contain this evolution. However, in spite of their documented efficiency, firms underinvest in those programs. This appears as a puzzle for health economists. In this paper, we uncover a strong negative relation of financial leverage to the implementation of H&S programs. The negative impact of debt on investment and CSR activities is generally interpreted as an efficient disciplinary effect of debt on managers. H&S are particularly well suited to revisit this evidence, given their strong profitability and homogeneity across firms. Very interestingly, the negative effect is stronger for firms with high free cash flows, for which debt is used to prevent overinvestment. This strongly suggests that debt, while disciplining managers, also discourages investments which are valuable both for firms and society.

Description: Purpose The goal of this study is to analyze the environmental improvement brought about by an alternative system for waste management proposed by the Integral-b project, funded by the European Union (EU). Its aim is to treat both used cooking oil (UCO) and organic waste from the restaurant and catering sector in Spain, by biodiesel production and anaerobic digestion, respectively. A cogeneration engine adapted to use glycerin as a fuel is implemented. Methods The functional unit (FU) is the management of the UCO and organic waste from restaurants and catering produced per person and year in Spain. The system proposed (scenario A) is compared to a system consisting of the prevailing management options for the same kind of waste (scenario B). Apart from including biodiesel production from the UCO, this reference scenario assumes that the organic waste is allocated to different streams, according to Spanish statistics. The systems under study generate different coproducts and as such are complex; therefore, system expansion is performed. Different scenario formulations are set to analyze the influence of assumptions regarding coproduct credits in the results. Finally, Monte Carlo simulations are carried out to analyze parameter uncertainty. Results and discussion The environmental benefits caused by scenario A are conditional on the choices regarding coproduct credits. Scenario A causes a reduction of the impact (43–655 %) in most of the scenario formulations when the current levels of UCO collection are considered. However, when higher levels of UCO collection are taken into account for the definition of the FU, scenario B performs better for half of the scenario formulations, due to the increase in the environmental credits from glycerin production. The only impact categories for which scenario A performs unconditionally better than scenario B are global warming and photochemical ozone creation. Parameter uncertainty appears to influence the comparative results to a lesser extent, mainly caused by the parameters involved in avoided processes. Conclusions Although system expansion appears as an option for dealing with the multifunctionality of waste management processes, uncertainty caused by choices must be assessed. Under our scenario assumptions, re-using the glycerol in the system proposed by Integral-b can be detrimental, and the reference scenario results in higher avoided burdens in some scenario formulations. Including glycerin valorization in scenario B should be considered if the biodiesel production keeps increasing in Spain. Analyzing parameter uncertainty helps to provide reliable results.

Description: This paper explores the strategies organizations use to demonstrate their accountability for biodiversity and legitimize their impact in this area through the use of techniques of neutralization. Neutralization aims to manage stakeholder impressions on very socially sensitive issues. Based on the content analysis of 148 sustainability reports from mining organizations, the study sheds light on the successful use of rhetoric in reports on non-measurable and potentially unaccountable issues. Specifically, the study shows that mining organizations use four main techniques of neutralization when they explain their impact on biodiversity. When they address stakeholders, they defend their social legitimacy and environmental responsiveness using one of the four techniques: they claim of a net positive or neutral impact on biodiversity, they deny that they have a significant impact, they distance themselves from the impact of their actions, and they play down their responsibilities. The study contributes to the literature on corporate sustainability and accounting for stakeholders. It focuses on under-researched issues such as the management of biodiversity and the tactics used to rationalize negative impacts. The study also bridges the gap between theories about organizational legitimacy, impression management, and techniques of neutralization.

Description: ObjectivesThis article aims to assess the relationship between the monetary value of informal care - approximated with the caregiver's willingness to pay to reduce caregiving time - and the caregiver's need of three types of support services: care training, respite care and support group. Developing such services may be the only way to provide sustainable informal care in the future, along with efficient allocation.Data & MethodsData used stemmed from two representative national surveys conducted by French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies and the French Head Office of Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics of the Social Affairs Ministry in 2008. The contingent valuation method was used to approximate the monetary value of informal care. The model was run on 223 informal caregivers of people with Alzheimer's Disease. Statistical analyses were performed using Heckman's two-step estimation strategy, which is known to correct selection bias. Results: On average, one hour of informal care was estimated at €12.1. Monetary value of informal care was influenced by the caregiver's need of care training (p

Description: Purpose Phase change materials (PCMs) hold considerable promise for thermal energy storage and reduction of temperature swings in building space, and can reduce reliance on fossil fuel sources for both heating and cooling. Previous studies have evaluated the use of PCMs for energy storage and provided some limited information on the embodied energy of the PCM; however, an important factor that has not fully been addressed until now is the environmental impact of preparation of organic PCMs. This study presents life cycle assessments (LCAs) of two organic, biosourced PCMs for their applications, focusing on embodied energy and CO 2 emissions. Methods Dodecanoic acid produced from palm kernel oil was considered as a PCM for use in a solar thermal water heating application, and ethyl hexadecanoate produced from algae was considered for thermal buffering. The functional units were defined as 1 t of dodecanoic acid PCM and 1 kg of encapsulated ethyl hexadecanoate PCM, respectively. The LCA encompasses all phases in the PCM production: growth and harvesting of the feedstocks, extraction of the oil, treatment of the oil, and separation of singular components. The two PCMs were evaluated in terms of the payback times for their embodied energies and embodied CO 2 under a modeled use phase. Results and discussion The energy payback time for dodecanoic acid in a solar thermal application was found to be less than 2 years. Although production of dodecanoic acid is a net CO 2 emitter, use of this PCM in a solar thermal system can recoup the CO 2 of production in less than a year. Ethyl hexadecanoate produced from algae, considered for use in a thermal buffering wallboard product, would require at least 30 years of use before its energy savings would match its embodied energy, mostly due to the drying step in the production of the PCM. However, ethyl hexadecanoate is a strong sequester of CO 2 at 7.6 t per ton of ethyl hexadecanoate. Conclusions Dodecanoic acid produced from palm kernel oil for use in a solar thermal hot water system appears to be a viable PCM. Its payback time, both for energy and carbon emissions, is under 3 years. On the other hand, the high embodied energy of ethyl hexadecanoate produced from algae gives a prohibitively long payback time for use in domestic thermal buffering applications.

Description: Purpose Current comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) studies claim to answer whether it is better or worse for the environment to change from old to new systems. Most commonly, the attributional LCA (ALCA) is practised despite its limitations to describe market effects. Hence, an attempt is done here to include market effects in the ALCA practice for comparisons in order to improve ALCA. The purpose is neither to investigate which LCA concept, ALCA, consequential LCA or decisional LCA, is the best for comparisons nor which is the best for decision-making. Methods Here, for the first time, a method based on marked changes which can be used for sensitivity checks of comparative ALCAs, advanced ALCA (AALCA) is presented. The new concept of global change mix factors (GCMF) is introduced. The method, based on accessible market data, is applied to previous comparative ALCAs of conductive adhesives, cooling modules used in radio base stations, office computing systems, as well as personal devices usage, here represented by multifunctional smartphones replacing other devices such as digital cameras. Results and discussion The results show that AALCA based on market data improves the understanding and can act as a sensitivity check of comparative ALCA results. For declining markets of products, with relatively high eco-environmental impacts, the difference between comparative AALCA and ALCA can be significant. As AALCA is founded in marginal electricity thinking and uses market data, there are similarities between AALCA and simplistic consequential LCA (CLCA). However, AALCA is not intended to replace CLCA or decisional LCA (DLCA). Conclusions By applying allocation factors, GCMF, based on real or future market changes, the interdependence of global markets and micro-level LCA shifts can be taken into account in comparative micro-level ALCA studies and make them more robust. Further, the sensitivity of using price units instead of physical units, as the basis for the GCMF, should be investigated. The degree to which AALCA and CLCA can complement each other should be examined. Also, the degree to which the GCMF used in AALCA-H address rebound effects should be further explored. The annual eco-environmental impacts of mobile devices towards 2020 are also of interest, and more LCA case studies are welcome.

Description: The paper documents the post-war retrenchment and failure of the post-war British Consumer Co-operative Movement. In contrast to the general failure one CEO, Terry Thomas stands out both for his success in co-operative rebranding and returning to profitability the UK Co-operative Bank and because he alone amongst the top echelons of the Co-operative Groups Management based his strategies on a clearly articulated philosophy based on his understanding of the values and purpose of the co-operative movement rooted in its historical traditions grounded in the writings and achievements of Robert Owen, The paper goes on to provide a case study of the bank’s process of transformation from loss-making subsidiary to the first positive co-operative national brand in the post-war period of its history. The author argues that lack of appropriate vision based on the founding values and purposes of the Co-operative Movement is the principal reason for the management’s and governance failures that have beset the UK Co-operative Group. Instead of using the past to help in understanding the present and planning for the future, the UK Co-operative Group Leadership ignored it or worse used the past successes to congratulate itself and disguise its manifest failures. In this, they were supported by an uncritical Co-operative Union (later renamed Co-operatives UK). Davis argues large co-operatives cannot be managed by a civil service responsible to an elected board. Co-operatives need a servant-leadership model of professional management dedicated to the transformational goals set by the founders of the co-operative movement. This needs a radical rethink and promotion of co-operative management education and a dedicated executive recruitment that seeks out value-based professionals whose attitudes and values are compatible with Co-operative values, ownership and purpose.

Description: While most studies dealing with waste reduction at the consumer level focus on recycling, this paper rather concentrates on precycling strategies and purchasing behaviors in order to understand how to promote waste reduction at the source. More specifically, the purpose of this work is to grasp consumers’ perceptions of overpackaging and understand the mechanisms underlying their choice of overpackaged versus non-overpackaged food products. Based on the different themes that emerged from a qualitative study (study 1, n  = 11), a quantitative research was conducted among French interviewees (study 2, n  = 327) in order to identify relevant groups of consumers. Five profiles emerged from the cluster analysis: the supporters, the self-sacrificing, the detractors, the indifferent, and the self-centered. Finally, an experiment was conducted (study 3, n  = 808) that highlights the influence of range positioning and salience of non-overpackaging on consumer choice. Implications for public policy makers and companies are discussed.

Description: The notion of shared value presents business with a challenge: to generate social benefit and profit simultaneously. This challenge involves resolving tensions/paradoxes inherent when integrating the apparent contradictory elements of social and economic values. Unfortunately, resolving such tensions is difficult due to the habitual, automatic nature of sensemaking. This paper offers a mechanism whereby individuals can, over time, begin to overcome habitual sensemaking and potentially resolve tensions inherent in shared value. The mechanism is labeled inner knowledge creation (IKC). IKC is described and its role in creating shared value for businesses is illustrated through a conceptual model. The model shows how IKC develops metacognitive capabilities, builds capacities to resolve tensions/paradoxes, and cultivates openness to others’ perspectives.

Description: We develop and use an integrated individual-level model to explain the driving forces behind digital piracy (DP) practice in two nations. The proposed model combines the Norm Activation model and Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology models. This study also explores the effect of culture on intention (INT) to practice DP in two nations: US (individualistic) and India (collectivistic). A survey instrument was used to collect data from 231 US and 331 Indian participants. Use of the integrated model proves to be a powerful and a viable approach to understanding DP across cultures. In each nation, all 10 path coefficients on the research model are statistically significant thereby establishing the fact that personal norm, together with other factors, influences INT to engage in DP, which in turn, may influence the actual practice. The results reveal a support for cross-cultural generalizability and applicability of the proposed model. Culture clearly plays a strong moderating role in two out of the three paths tested. The implications of the findings are discussed.

Description: While research has focused on why certain entrepreneurs elect to create innovative solutions to social problems, very little is known about why some social entrepreneurs choose to scale their solutions while others do not. Research on scaling has generally focused on organizational characteristics often overlooking factors at the individual level that may affect scaling decisions. Drawing on the multidimensional construct of moral intensity, we propose a theoretical model of ethical decision making to explain why a social entrepreneur’s perception of moral intensity of the social problem, coupled with their personal desire for control, can significantly influence scaling decisions. Specifically, we propose that higher levels of perceived moral intensity will positively influence the likelihood of scaling through open as opposed to closed modes in order to achieve greater speed and scope of social impact. However, we also propose this effect will be negatively moderated by a social entrepreneur’s higher levels of desire for control. Our model has implications for research and practice at the interface of ethics and social entrepreneurship.

Description: In this paper we consider coalition configurations (Albizuri et al. in Games Econ Behav 57:1–17,  2006 ), that is, families of coalitions not necessarily disjoint whose union is the grand coalition, and give a generalization of the Shapley value (Contributions to the theory of games II, Princeton University Press, Princeton, pp 307–317,  1953 ) and the Owen value (Essays in mathematical economics and game theory, Springer, Berlin, pp 76–88,  1977 ) when coalition configurations form. This will be an alternative definition to the one given by Albizuri et al.

Description: 〈h3〉Zusammenfassung〈/h3〉 〈p〉Privacy- und Securityvorfälle stellen eine ernsthafte Bedrohung für den Erfolg eines Unternehmens dar. Während frühere Untersuchungen sich hauptsächlich auf Sekundäreffekte konzentriert haben (d. h. Kapitalmarktreaktionen in Folge von Privacy- und Security-Vorfällen), widmet sich diese Studie Primäreffekten und beleuchtet die direkte Kundenreaktion. In einem Laborexperiment wird zwischen dem Einfluss von Privacy- und Security-Vorfällen auf das Vertrauen und das Verhalten von Personen unterschieden. Es finden sich Hinweise auf das sogenannte Datenschutzparadoxon, wonach sich im Bereich des Datenschutzes die Intention vom Verhalten unterscheidet. Während Privacy sehr wichtig für die Vertrauensbildung ist, wirkt Security stärker auf das tatsächliche Verhalten. Nach den Ergebnissen dieser Studie bleibt die Lücke zwischen Intentionen und Verhalten auch nach dem Auftreten eines Datenschutzvorfalls bestehen.〈/p〉

Description: 〈h3〉Zusammenfassung〈/h3〉 〈p〉Während sich die meisten wissenschaftlichen Studien zum Thema „Big Data“ mit den technischen Möglichkeiten zur Bewältigung von riesigen Datenmengen beschäftigen, sind empirische Untersuchungen in Bezug auf die von Fachleuten verlangten Kompetenzen für das Management and die Analyse von Big Data bislang noch nicht durchgeführt worden. Gleichzeitig diskutiert man in Wissenschaft und Praxis heftig über die Unterschiede und Gemeinsamkeiten von Big Data (BD) einerseits und „traditionellem“ Business Intelligence (BI) andererseits. Der vorliegende Artikel beschreibt die Durchführung einer Latenten Semantischen Analyse (LSA) von Stellenanzeigen auf dem Online-Portal monster.com, um Informationen darüber zu gewinnen, welche Anforderungen Unternehmen an Fachkräfte in den Bereichen BD und BI stellen. Auf Basis einer Analyse und Interpretation der statistischen Ergebnisse der LSA wird eine Taxonomie von Kompetenzanforderungen für BD bzw. BI entwickelt. Die wichtigsten Ergebnisse der Untersuchung lauten: (1) für beide Bereiche, BD und BI, ist Businesswissen genauso wichtig wie technisches Wissen; (2) kompetent sein im Bereich BI bezieht sich vorwiegend auf Wissen und Fähigkeiten in Bezug auf die Produkte der großen kommerziellen Softwareanbieter, während im Bereich BD eher Wissen und die Fähigkeiten in Bezug auf die Entwicklung von Individualsoftware und die Anwendung statistischer Methoden im Vordergrund steht; (3) die Nachfrage nach Kompetenz im Bereich BI ist immer noch weitaus größer als die Nachfrage nach Kompetenz im Bereich BD; und (4) BD-Projekte sind gegenwärtig wesentlich humankapital-intensiver als BI-Projekte. Die Ergebnisse und Erkenntnisse der Studie können Praktikern, Unternehmen und wissenschaftlichen Einrichtungen dabei helfen, ihre BD- bzw. BI-Kompetenz zu bewerten und zu erweitern.〈/p〉

Description: 〈h3〉Zusammenfassung〈/h3〉 〈p〉Mit “Big Data” werden Technologien beschrieben, die nicht weniger als die Erfüllung eines der Kernziele der Wirtschaftsinformatik versprechen: die richtigen Informationen dem richtigen Adressaten zur richtigen Zeit in der richtigen Menge am richtigen Ort und in der erforderlichen Qualität bereitzustellen. Für die Wirtschaftsinformatik als anwendungsorientierte Wissenschaftsdisziplin entstehen durch solche technologischen Entwicklungen Chancen und Risiken. Risiken entstehen vor allem dadurch, dass möglicherweise erhebliche Ressourcen auf die Erklärung und Gestaltung von Modeerscheinungen verwendet werden. Chancen entstehen dadurch, dass die entsprechenden Ressourcen zu substanziellen Erkenntnisgewinnen führen, die dem wissenschaftlichen Fortschritt der Disziplin wie auch ihrer praktischen Relevanz dienen.〈/p〉 〈p〉Aus Sicht der Autoren ist die Wirtschaftsinformatik ideal positioniert, um Big Data kritisch zu begleiten und Erkenntnisse für die Erklärung und Gestaltung innovativer Informationssysteme in Wirtschaft und Verwaltung zu nutzen – unabhängig davon, ob Big Data nun tatsächlich eine disruptive Technologie oder doch nur eine flüchtige Modeerscheinung ist. Die weitere Entwicklung und Adoption von Big Data wird letztendlich zeigen, ob es sich um eine Modeerscheinung oder um substanziellen Fortschritt handelt. Die aufgezeigten Thesen zeigen darüber hinaus auch, wie künftige technologische Entwicklungen für den Fortschritt der Disziplin Wirtschaftsinformatik genutzt werden können. Technologischer Fortschritt sollte für eine kumulative Ergänzung bestehender Modelle, Werkzeuge und Methoden genutzt werden. Dagegen sind wissenschaftliche Revolutionen unabhängig vom technologischen Fortschritt.〈/p〉

Description: 〈h3〉Zusammenfassung〈/h3〉 〈p〉Während die klassische Definition von Big Data ursprünglich nur die drei Größen Datenmenge (Volume), Datenrate (Velocity) und Datenvielfalt (Variety) umfasste, ist in jüngster Zeit der Wahrheitsgehalt (Veracity) als weitere Dimension mehr und mehr in den wissenschaftlichen und praktischen Fokus gerückt. Der noch immer wachsende Bereich der Sozialen Medien und damit verbundene benutzergenerierte Datenmengen verlangen nach neuen Methoden, die die enthaltene Datenunschärfe abschätzen und kontrollieren können. Dieser Beitrag widmet sich einem Aspekt der Datenunschärfe und stellt einen neuartigen Ansatz vor, der die Verlässlichkeit von benutzergenerierten Daten auf Basis von wiederkehrenden Mustern abschätzt. Zu diesem Zweck wird eine große Menge von Twitter-Statusnachrichten mit geographischer Standortinformation aus San Francisco untersucht und mit Points of Interest (POIs), wie beispielsweise Bars, Restaurants oder Parks, in Verbindung gebracht. Das vorgeschlagene Modell wird durch kausale Beziehungen zwischen Points of Interest und den in der Umgebung vorliegenden Twitter-Meldungen validiert. Weiterhin wird die zeitliche Dimension dieser Beziehung in Betracht gezogen, um so in Abhängigkeit der Art des POI wiederkehrende Muster zu identifizieren. Die durchgeführten Analysen münden in einem Indikator, der die Verlässlichkeit von vorliegenden Daten in räumlicher und zeitlicher Dimension abschätzt.〈/p〉

Description: 〈h3〉Zusammenfassung〈/h3〉 〈p〉Datenzentrische Ansätze wie Big Data und verwandte Ansätze im Bereich Business Intelligence und Analytics (BI&A) haben in jüngster Zeit viel Aufmerksamkeit auf sich gezogen, da sie versprechen – basierend auf neuen geschäftsrelevanten Erkenntnissen und besseren Entscheidungen – die Leistungsfähigkeit von Unternehmen stark zu verbessern. Die Einbeziehung datenzentrischer Ansätze in die Entscheidungsprozesse von Unternehmen ist herausfordernd und es ist nicht selbstverständlich, dass die erwarteten Nutzen auch realisiert werden. Frühere Studien haben einen mangelnden Forschungsfokus auf den Kontext von Entscheidungsprozessen in datenzentrischen Ansätzen festgestellt. Mittels eines multiplen Fallstudienansatzes werden im vorliegenden Aufsatz unterschiedliche Typen von BI&A-gestützten Entscheidungsprozessen untersucht und die drei folgenden Beiträge gemacht. Erstens wird gezeigt, wie die Facetten von Big Data und verschiede Kompositionen von Mechanismen der Informationsverarbeitung in unterschiedlichen Typen von BI&A-gestützten Entscheidungsprozessen genutzt werden. Zweitens werden neue Erkenntnisse über organisatorische Mechanismen der Informationsverarbeitung und ihre komplementäre Beziehung zu datenzentrischen Mechanismen zur Theorie der Informationsverarbeitung beigetragen. Drittens wird demonstriert, wie die Theorie der Informationsverarbeitung angewendet werden kann, um die Dynamik der Komposition von Mechanismen der Informationsverarbeitung über verschiedene Entscheidungstypen hinweg zu bewerten. Abschließend werden die theoretischen und praktischen Implikationen der Studie diskutiert.〈/p〉

Description: 〈h3〉Zusammenfassung〈/h3〉 〈p〉Die starke Verbreitung von Angeboten, die Nachfrager in ihrem Alltag unterstützen, führt innerhalb der Forschung zu einer zunehmenden Auseinandersetzung mit den Nutzungsprozessen der Nachfrager. Eine theoretische Grundlage für diese Auseinandersetzung bietet die Service-Dominant Logic of Marketing. Sie geht davon aus, dass die eigentliche Nutzenentfaltung für einen Nachfrager nicht durch den bloßen Produktbesitz, sondern erst im Nutzungsprozess in Form von Value-in-Use entsteht. Bislang existiert jedoch keine allgemein anerkannte Methode, mit deren Hilfe sich Nutzungsprozesse erfassen und im Hinblick auf den Value-in-Use analysieren lassen. Im Beitrag wird daher eine Methode zur Erfassung des Value-in-Use vorgeschlagen. Hierzu wird auf die Repertory-Grid-Methode zurückgegriffen, welche gemäß den zugrundeliegenden theoretischen Annahmen adaptiert und im Rahmen einer qualitativen Studie zur Smartphone-Nutzung empirisch getestet wird. Die gewonnenen Erkenntnisse ermöglichten die Erarbeitung einer spezifischen Value-in-Use-Skala. Eine quantitative Studie validierte diese abschließend. Die adaptierte Repertory-Grid-Methode wird folglich als ein vielversprechender Ansatz zur Erfassung von Nutzungsprozessen und dem dabei entstehenden Value-in-Use betrachtet.〈/p〉

Description: 〈h3〉Zusammenfassung〈/h3〉 〈p〉Domänenspezifische Modellierungssprachen (engl.: “domain-specific modeling languages”, DSMLs) versprechen deutliche Vorteile gegenüber universellen Modellierungssprachen. Ihr Entwurf ist allerdings mit einer essentiellen Herausforderung verbunden. Um ansehnliche Skaleneffekte zu erreichen, empfiehlt sich die Entwicklung von DSMLs, die in einer größeren Nutzungsbandbreite einsetzbar sind. Gleichzeitig spricht der Gewinn an Modellierungsproduktivität im Einzelfall für Sprachkonzepte, die an individuelle Anforderungen angepasst sind. In dem vorliegenden Beitrag wird ein neuartiger Ansatz zur konzeptuellen Modellierung wie auch zur Konstruktion von Informationssystemen präsentiert, der durch die faktische Nutzung von Fachsprachen inspiriert ist – die Mehrebenen-Modellierung. Im Unterschied zu traditionellen Spracharchitekturen wie der „Meta Object Facility“ (MOF) basiert er auf einer rekursiven Architektur, die eine beliebige Zahl von Klassifikationsebenen ermöglicht und dadurch den Entwurf von Sprachhierarchien – von einer Referenz-DSML bis hin zu „lokalen“ DSMLs – erlaubt. Auf diese Weise wird nicht nur der essentielle Konflikt des Entwurfs von DSMLs deutlich entschärft, sondern auch die Wiederverwendung und Integration von Software-Komponenten im Allgemeinen gefördert. Zudem ermöglicht der Ansatz die Reduktion von Modellkomplexität, indem er die Dichotomie von Spezialisierung und Instanzierung teilweise aufhebt. Darüber hinaus integriert er eine Metamodellierungssprache mit dem Metamodell einer Metaprogrammiersprache, wodurch ausführbare Modelle ermöglicht werden. Die Spezifikation der Spracharchitektur wird ergänzt durch die Darstellung von Anwendungsszenarien, die die Potentiale der Mehrebenen-Modellierung verdeutlichen, sowie eine kritische Betrachtung ihrer Besonderheiten.〈/p〉

Description: Because of the current trend in nature degradation, protected areas are gaining importance. Ehden reserve in Lebanon is one such example, a reserve providing shelter to a substantial number of endangered species. This paper was designed to have three main objectives which are firstly to measure respondents’ willingness to pay (WTP) to preserve the protected area, drawing a distinction between visitors and residents to ascertain whether there are any appreciable differences and why these might arise; Secondly, to identify the best ways to collect local funds; Thirdly, to investigate further studies and to inform decision makers about the importance of a long-term conservation and sustainable program. Using an open ended questionnaire, contingent valuation method is applied to obtain the WTP. The WTP is then tested by using a stepwise multiple regression model relating WTP to all socio demographic variables. Finally the problems of hypothetical bias are explored.

Description: During President Putin’s visit to Beijing in November 2014 Gazprom and CNPC signed a memorandum of understanding concerning the export of gas to China via the so-called “western route” via the Russian republic of Altai. The announcement was hailed by Russia as another example of its shift towards Asia as a diversification of its traditional gas export business in the West. This has important implications not only for Russia and China, but also for all the other potential suppliers of gas, and especially LNG, into North-East Asia. Confirmation that China could import up to 68bcma of Russian gas starting from 2019 would create a significant dent in the country’s potential LNG import requirement from 2020, increasing the competition between the planned sources of supply that are being constructed and planned over the next 5-10 years. Despite remaining doubts as to whether both Russia – China pipeline deals proceed to completion, it would appear that LNG suppliers are right to be concerned, as there is real commercial as well as political logic for significant Russian gas to flow south into the world’s fastest growing gas market. From a Chinese perspective, growing gas demand, uncertainty over some of its existing sources of supply, a desire to create more competition with Central Asian gas and the one-off nature of the opportunity to negotiate with Russia from a position of exceptional bargaining strength mean that an Altai deal is also likely to make sense. There may be some concern over the need for more Russian gas, with the possibility that total supply of 68bcma (the combined capacity of the Power of Siberia and Altai pipelines) could account for as much as one third of total Chinese imports by 2030. However, any potential security of supply threat is offset by the fact that the Russian contribution to overall Chinese gas consumption would be much lower, at around 13%, while the share of gas in the China’s total energy balance is estimated to remain below 10% at that date. Overall, then, the potential for a deal on exports via the Altai pipeline appears to have significant commercial and political logic. If a deal is signed, substantial problems will still remain, not the least of which will be Gazprom’s ability to raise the money needed to build the pipeline given its current inability to access western capital markets. Nevertheless, the impact of the signing of an Altai deal alone could have a significant impact on the ambitions of companies planning LNG projects that are also targeting the Chinese market, and as such the continuing discussions will require attentive observation over the next 12 months. The post The Commercial and Political Logic for the Altai Pipeline appeared first on Oxford Institute for Energy Studies .

Description: Ethical debate exists on the effect of gender diversity of the top management teams (TMTs) on organizations. This study aims to contribute to this debate by analyzing the effects of gender diversity of TMTs on the relationship between knowledge combination capability and organizations’ innovative performance. We use a sample of 205 small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) belonging to the sector of Spanish technology-based firms (TBFs). Our results indicate that gender diversity positively moderates the relationship between knowledge combination capability and innovation performance. Implications for theory and practice are discussed—among them, ways to contribute to more equal gender distribution and to the benefits of gender diversity in top management positions.

Description: The degree to which the law of one price holds (integration) along with determining each individual markets’ role in price discovery is examined for 11 major natural gas markets, six from the USA and five from Canada. Deregulation, technological advances, and trade agreements have opened the USA’s and Canada’s natural gas market to new and extensive interactions. The 11 natural gas market prices are tied together with ten long-run co-integration relationships with all markets included in the co-integration space, providing evidence the markets are integrated. The degree of integration varies by region. Markets geographically adjacent to each other tend to be more highly integrated than markets separated by distance. Further results indicate that there is no clear price leader among the 11 markets. Including more US and Canadian markets than previous studies, show markets in both eastern and western USA and Canada are important in the price discovery process.

Description: Scheduling problems are naturally dynamic. Increasing flexibility will help solve bottleneck issues, increase production, and improve performance and competitive advantage of Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Maximum make span, as well as the average workflow time and latency time of parts are considered the objectives of scheduling, which are compatible with the philosophy of on-time production and supply chain management goals. In this study, these objectives were selected to optimize the resource utilization, minimize inventory turnover, and improve commitment to customers; simultaneously controlling these objectives improved system performance. In the job-shop scheduling problem considered in this paper, the three objectives were to find the best total weight of the objectives, maximize the number of reserved jobs and improve job-shop performance. To realize these targets, a multi-parametric objective function was introduced with dynamic and flexible parameters. The other key accomplishment is the development of a new method called TIME_GELS that uses the gravitational emulation local search algorithm (GELS) for solving the multi-objective flexible dynamic job-shop scheduling problem. The proposed algorithm used two of the four parameters, namely velocity and gravity. The searching agents in this algorithm are a set of masses that interact with each other based on Newton’s laws of gravity and motion. The results of the proposed method are presented for slight, mediocre and complete flexibility stages. These provided average improvements of 6.61, 6.5 and 6.54 %. The results supported the efficiency of the proposed method for solving the job-shop scheduling problem particularly in improving SME’s productivity.

Description: Purpose Previous estimates of carbon payback time (CPT) of corn ethanol expansion assumed that marginal yields of newly converted lands are the same as the average corn yield, whereas reported marginal yields are generally lower than the average yield (47–83 % of average yield). Furthermore, these estimates assumed that the productivity of corn ethanol system and climate change impacts per unit greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions remain the same over decades to a century. The objective of this study is to re-examine CPT of corn ethanol expansion considering three aspects: (1) yields of newly converted lands (i.e., marginal yield), (2) technology improvements over time within the corn ethanol system, and (3) temporal sensitivity of climate change impacts. Methods A new approach to CPT calculation is proposed, where changes in productivity of ethanol conversion process and corn yield are taken into account. The approach also allows the use of dynamic characterization approach to GHGs emitted in different times, as an option. Data are collected to derive historical trends of bioethanol conversion efficiency and corn yield, which inform the development of the scenarios for future biofuel conversion efficiency and corn yield. Corn ethanol’s CPTs are estimated and compared for various marginal-to-average (MtA) yield ratios with and without considering technology improvements and time-dependent climate change impacts. Results and discussion The results show that CPT estimates are highly sensitive to both MtA yield ratio and productivity of ethanol system. Without technological advances, our CPT estimates for corn ethanol from newly converted Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) land exceed 100 years for all MtA yield ratios tested except for the case where MtA yield ratio is 100 %. When the productivity improvements within corn ethanol systems since previous CPT estimates and their future projections are considered, our CPT estimates fall into the range of 15 years (100 % MtA yield ratio) to 56 years (50 % MtA yield ratio), assuming land conversion takes place in early 2000s. Incorporating diminishing sensitivity of GHG emissions to future emissions year by year, however, increases the CPT estimates by 57 to 13 % (from 17 years for 100 % MtA yield ratio to 88 years for 50 % MtA yield ratio). For 60 MtA yield ratio, CPT is estimated to be 43 years, which is relatively close to previous CPT estimates (i.e., 40 to 48 years) but with very different underlying reasons. Conclusions This study highlights the importance of considering technological advances in understanding the climate change implications of land conversion for corn ethanol. Without the productivity improvements in corn ethanol system, the prospect of paying off carbon debts from land conversion within 100 years becomes unlikely. Even with the ongoing productivity improvements, the yield of newly converted land can significantly affect the CPT. The results reinforce the importance of considering marginal technologies and technology change in prospective life cycle assessment.

Description: This paper extends the classical Samuelson multiplier–accelerator model for national economy. Actually, this new modeling structure removes the basic shortcoming of the original model producing stable business cycles when realistic values of the parameters (multiplier, accelerator) are entered into the system of equations. Under this new approach, we introduce some kind of randomness and memory into the system. We assume that consumption, private investment and governmental expenditure depend upon the national income values of the last n ( n 〉 1 ) years and further assume that multiplier and accelerator factors are stochastic variables. Then stochastic delayed difference equations of higher order are employed to describe the model, while the respective solutions of higher order polynomials for the expectation of national income variables correspond to the typical observed business cycles of real economy. Stability and controllability conditions are investigated while numerical examples provide further insight and better understanding as regards the control actions, system design, and produced business cycles.

Description: The authors conduct a meta-analysis to examine dependence and interdependence in marketing relationships. Analyses reveal that dependence affects performance primarily through relationship quality and cooperation, while interdependence has substantial direct effects as well as effects mediated through relationship-specific investments and cooperation. Regarding relationship context, effects of dependence are stronger in channel relationships than end-user relationships and for services than goods; interdependence does not display the same pattern. Regarding methodological context, dependence measures that emphasize relationship value versus switching costs have different moderating effects; greater general dependence content is associated with weaker effect sizes for dependence but conversely greater effect sizes for interdependence. These results suggest that new insights can be gained by distinguishing relationship value and switching cost components of dependence and by investigating the possibility that the conceptual domain of interdependence differs from that of dependence. Future research that strives for greater precision in the measurement of dependence and interdependence constructs and that simultaneously examines dependence and interdependence is recommended.

Description: The historical behavior of farmland prices, rental rates, and rates of return are examined by treating farmland as an asset with an infinitely long life. It is found that high (low) farmland prices relative to rents have historically preceded extended periods of low (high) net rates of return, rather than greater (smaller) growth in rents. Our analysis shows that this attribute is shared with stocks and housing, and the financial literature provides ample evidence that other assets feature it as well. The long-run relationship linking farmland prices, rents, and rates of return is analyzed. Based on this relationship, we conclude that recent trends are unlikely to be sustainable. The study explores the expected paths that farmland prices and rates of return might follow if they were to eventually conform to the average values observed in the historical sample, and concludes with a discussion of the policy implications. Recommendations for policy makers include close monitoring of farmland lending practices and institutions to allow early identification of potential problems, and identifying in advance appropriate interventions in case recent farmland market trends were to suddenly change.

Description: This study presents evidence from a survey and choice experiment on the preferences of Hispanic immigrants who entered the United States illegally for different immigration reform proposal attributes. Key components of the current competing US Senate and House immigration reform bills are considered including pathways to legal permanent residence, temporary work visas, family visitation rights, and access to medical care. The results quantify the value Hispanic immigrants place on different policy attributes and suggest that longer-term work visas are highly valued. Ability to legally work in the United States and a pathway to citizenship are substantially more valued than social services such as medical care and social security benefits.

Description: This research adapts the Neyman-Pearson testing protocol commonly used in biomedical research for ex post evaluation of the employment impacts of new ethanol bio-refineries in the U.S. Great Plains and the Midwest. By calculating the power of the test, the suggested protocol may provide policy-relevant information, even in the event of nonsignificant findings. The main obstacle to applying this protocol has been the need to posit an explicit alternative distribution, which runs counter to the empiricist tradition of mainstream econometrics. We resolve this problem by applying a data generating process with known parameters anchored to sample data to compute power.

Description: Purpose The security of the supply of resources is a key policy and business concern. This concern has been increasingly addressed by bodies such as the European Commission to help identify materials of potential concern in terms of economic importance and supply risks. Equally, tools such as life cycle assessment (LCA) systematically compile inventories of the resources attributable to the supply of goods and services. Such well-established tools, hence, provide an important opportunity for business and governments for strategic management and for identifying improvement options that reduce reliance on so-called critical raw materials (CRMs). This paper explores current practice and the potential of LCA to help business and governments more systematically assess their supply chains. Methods Raw materials of concern to business and governments in relation to security of supply are denoted as critical . This paper highlights how such CRMs are identified in the existing methodologies. It then focuses on LCA methodology and explores its potential in providing information on CRMs at different levels: considering the flows of CRMs at inventory level, including criticality criteria in the impact assessment, and analyzing the flows of CRMs associated with the consumption of goods and services at macroeconomic scale. Results and discussion Consideration of resource security can be specifically addressed in LCA starting from the goal and scope definition. These CRMs may otherwise be neglected due to cut-off criteria based, e.g., on quantity. If systematically addressed, LCA can provide such CRM information routinely at inventory level. Inclusion of further indicators under the Area of Protection (AoP) “Resources” in LCA may also ensure such assessments more systematically address issues such as criticality. In strategic analysis, as those at macroeconomic scale, LCA results at the inventory (e.g., amounts of CRMs domestically extracted and those used for producing imported and exported intermediate products) and at impact assessment level can better support decision making. Conclusions At both microscale and macroscale, LCA might have more potential in capturing hot spots and improvement opportunities of raw materials of concern, not only in terms of scarcity. This paper highlights that LCA is well positioned for providing information on resource-related issues of concern to business and governments such as the criticality of raw materials used in the supply chains. The paper outlines the methodological developments that could enhance LCA potential to further support resource assessments to help more systematically meet such business and governmental interests.

Description: When I think of the single change that would most successfully transform our teaching practice and leverage truly significant benefits, it would be to bring much more of what learners already know into the classroom so that it can be shared, examined, refined and improved. At present, it would seem that the majority mode of teaching in the areas of ethics and social responsibility does a rather poor job of this, tending instead towards silencing the wisdom that is in the room in order that external perspectives can be more easily “instilled”. From many years of experimenting with a wide variety of approaches to teaching the subject, I find this to be deeply suboptimal and would seriously suggest that we ought to shift our practices in ways that make learners’ perspectives our primary material of interest.

Description: A growing body of literature documents the important role played by moral outrage or moral anger in stakeholders’ reactions to cases of corporate social irresponsibility. Existing research focuses more on the consequences of moral outrage than a systematic analysis of how appraisals of irresponsible corporate behavior can lead to this emotional experience. In this paper, we develop and test, in two field studies, an extended model of moral outrage that identifies the cognitions that lead to, and are associated with, this emotional experience. This research contributes to the existing literature on reactions to corporate social irresponsibility by explaining how observers’ evaluation of irresponsible corporate behavior leads to reactions of moral anger. The paper also helps clarify the difference between moral outrage and other types of anger and offers useful insights for managers who have to confront public outrage following cases of irresponsible corporate behavior. Finally, the analysis of the causes of stakeholders’ anger at irresponsible corporations opens important avenues for future research that are presented in the paper.

Description: This paper analyzes new ways of citizen participation by adopting methods of Open Innovation in the public sector. We provide a framework to structure these new activities and perform an explanatory analysis on the driving factors behind participation in one so-called “Open Government” initiative. Our study is based on an online idea collaboration platform in Germany with more than 100,000 visitors and 2,100 community members. It uses survey data including a quasi-experiment for 325 platform participants and a control group of 204 citizens. Our theoretical framework extends the concept of citizenship to the realm of voluntary online participation. We find that citizen participation measured as political engagement and political expertise increases the probability to participate in the online dialogue. Citizens’ loyalty measured by an altruistic attitude also plays a significant role in motivating citizens to contribute to future public policies. We derive implications for public managers and future research opportunities.

Description: We investigate a periodic review inventory system with demand that is either a Brownian motion or a Poisson process and with costs that accrue in continuous time over the period (and not at the end of the period). We find explicit expressions for the expected inventory costs and for the optimality equation. On the basis of these expressions, a simple search can be designed to obtain the optimal order-up-to level. In addition, we develop a new distribution function with a closed-form quantile function to approximate this level. The approximation can be adjusted to consider lead time. Numerical examples show that the suggested approximation produces substantially lower deviations from the optimal solution compared with approximations recommended in the literature.

Description: Purpose USEtox is a scientific consensus model for assessing human toxicological and ecotoxicological impacts that is widely used in life cycle assessment (LCA) and other comparative assessments. However, how user requirements are met has never been investigated. To guide future model developments, we analyzed user expectations and experiences and compared them with the developers’ visions. Methods We applied qualitative and quantitative data collection methods including an online questionnaire, semi-structured user and developer interviews, and review of scientific literature. Questionnaire and interview results were analyzed in an actor-network perspective in order to understand user needs and to compare these with the developers’ visions. Requirement engineering methods, more specifically function tree, system context, and activity diagrams, were iteratively applied and structured to develop specific user requirements-driven recommendations for setting priorities in future USEtox development and for discussing general implications for developing scientific models. Results and discussion The vision behind USEtox was to harmonize available data and models for assessing toxicological impacts in LCA and to provide global guidance for practitioners. Model developers show different perceptions of some underlying aspects including model transparency and expected user expertise. Users from various sectors and geographic regions apply USEtox mostly in research and for consulting. Questionnaire and interview results uncover various user requests regarding USEtox usability. Results were systematically analyzed to translate user requests into recommendations to improve USEtox from a user perspective and were afterwards applied in the further USEtox development process. Conclusions We demonstrate that understanding interactions between USEtox and its users helps guiding model development and dissemination. USEtox-specific recommendations are to (1) respect the application context for different user types, (2) provide detailed guidance for interpreting model and factors, (3) facilitate consistent integration into LCA software and methods, (4) improve update/testing procedures, (5) strengthen communication between developers and users, and (6) extend model scope. By generalizing our recommendations to guide scientific model development in a broader context, we emphasize to acknowledge different levels of user expertise to integrate sound revision and update procedures and to facilitate modularity, data import/export, and incorporation into relevant software and databases during model design and development. Our fully documented approach can inspire performing similar surveys on other LCA-related tools to consistently analyze user requirements and provide improvement recommendations based on scientific user analysis methods.

Description: We propose an ex-post analysis of the behavior of a central bank confronted with financial turmoil. For this purpose, we rely on a DSGE model that combines credit market frictions with a boom and bust scenario on the price of capital. Within this framework, we seek to understand the extent to which central banks could have intervened to limit the effects of the financial bubble and its bursting. We compare the results obtained in terms of economic stabilization under a simple Taylor rule with those of an augmented rule that takes into account a financial indicator. We show that a central bank using as sole instrument the interest rate cannot simultaneously improve inflation and credit cycles.

Description: Motivated by contemporary debates concerning whether directors inappropriately deploy corporate funds for corporate political donations and the limited research into managerial influence on corporate political donations, we examine the impact of director influences from a network perspective. Using a sample of large listed Australian corporations and their political party donation activity during 2000–2007, we find that both the professional and non-professional networks of directors influence corporate political donations. We observe these influences in relation to donations at the federal and state levels, and with respect to the choice of recipient political parties.