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Prefabricated products are continually entering the building construction market; yet, the decision to use prefabricated products in a construction project is based mostly on personal preferences and the evaluation of direct costs. Researchers and practitioners have debated appropriate measurement systems for evaluating the impacts of prefabricated products and for comparing them with conventional on-site construction practices. The more advanced, cost–benefit approach to evaluating prefabricated products often inspires controversy because it may generate inaccurate results when converting non-monetary effects into costs. As prefabrication may affect multiple organisations and product subsystems, the method used to decide on production methods should consider multiple direct and indirect impacts, including nonmonetary ones. Thus, this study aims to develop a multi-criteria method to evaluate both the monetary and non-monetary impacts of prefabrication solutions to facilitate decision-making on whether to use prefabricated products.

Drawing upon a literature review, this research suggests a multi-criteria method that combines the choosing-by-advantage approach with a cost–benefit analysis. The method was presented for validation in focus group discussions and tested in a case involving a prefabricated bathroom.

The analysis indicates that the method helps a project’s stakeholders communicate about the relative merits of prefabrication and conventional construction while facilitating the final decision of whether to use prefabrication.

This research contributes a method of evaluating the monetary and non-monetary impacts of prefabricated products. The research underlines the need to evaluate the diverse benefits and sacrifices that stakeholder face when considering production methods in construction.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the costs and benefits of interventions to reduce indoor‐air pollution arising from the use of solid biomass fuels for cooking and heating in Nigeria.

The authors use cost‐benefit analysis and assess two intervention scenarios: providing access to improved stoves; and providing access to cleaner fuels (liquefied petroleum gas – LPG – burners). Both intervention scenarios are compared with the current situation, i.e. the “business as usual” scenario where there is no attempt to reduce the present level of exposure to indoor‐air pollution from solid fuel use.

The result shows that the cost‐benefit ratio of the stove intervention is 0.388 while that of LPG is 0.371.

While providing access to cleaner fuels (LPG) has a larger health impact on the population than improved stoves, the low income level of the participants will favor the stove option because of the lower recurrent cost which is usually borne by the participants. From a public health point of view, there is need for a continued emphasis on the promotion of improved stoves to reduce exposure in households using solid fuels until everyone can have access to cleaner fuels. Furthermore, since choice of cooking technologies is influenced by income level, the intervention policy should be implemented alongside other socio‐economic development programmes.

The paper bridges the knowledge gap with respect to the indoor‐air pollution issue in Nigeria. It offers policy makers an insight into the potential net benefit of intervening to reduce indoor‐air pollution arising from the use of solid biomass fuels in Nigeria.

Social scientists writing in the development field often simply assume that public education expenditure in developing countries has been largely ineffective. Reasons offered in support of this assumption include uncertain goals and unsystematic implementation of programmes, lack of training of administrators, poor quality teachers and facilities, educators bound by tradition, systems modelled upon those of industrialised nations, and in some cases even graft and corruption. Although the above may reflect reality in many nations, full acceptance of these conditions as universal may severely restrict both necessary and useful analysis of the delivery of educational services in the developing world.

“… economists do not see the problem of pollution as one of eliminating it, but of finding the “optimum” amount of pollution, allowing for the costs, as well as the benefits, of pollution abatement. To most scientists, by contrast, the problems of pollution are purely technical problems—i.e. how does one eliminate it; not how much should one reduce it? To listen to some scientists on the question of water pollution, for example, one gets the firm impression that they regard the proper objective of policy as being to eliminate pollution entirely, and the costs side of the story enters into it only insofar as it means that they have difficulty in achieving this objective”.

The Bureau of Economics in the Federal Trade Commission has a three-part role in the Agency and the strength of its functions changed over time depending on the preferences and ideology of the FTC’s leaders, developments in the field of economics, and the tenor of the times. The over-riding current role is to provide well considered, unbiased economic advice regarding antitrust and consumer protection law enforcement cases to the legal staff and the Commission. The second role, which long ago was primary, is to provide reports on investigations of various industries to the public and public officials. This role was more recently called research or “policy R&D”. A third role is to advocate for competition and markets both domestically and internationally. As a practical matter, the provision of economic advice to the FTC and to the legal staff has required that the economists wear “two hats,” helping the legal staff investigate cases and provide evidence to support law enforcement cases while also providing advice to the legal bureaus and to the Commission on which cases to pursue (thus providing “a second set of eyes” to evaluate cases). There is sometimes a tension in those functions because building a case is not the same as evaluating a case. Economists and the Bureau of Economics have provided such services to the FTC for over 100 years proving that a sub-organization can survive while playing roles that sometimes conflict. Such a life is not, however, always easy or fun.

As the population and purchasing power of ethnic minority consumers in the USA continue to grow, more marketers are using subcultural segmentation and targeted marketing to reach these consumers. Meanwhile, some marketers have grown increasingly concerned with the cost‐effectiveness of ethnic segmentation and differentiated marketing. This research reviews various methods for segmenting the ethnic markets and suggests the nested approach and cost‐benefit optimization for analyzing the cost‐effectiveness of ethnic segmentation and marketing. Furthermore, this research proposes four alternative strategies for marketing in a multicultural environment. Directions for future research and managerial implications are explored.

It has been long debated whether the three bottom lines of sustainability (economic, environmental and social) can be achieved simultaneously or whether achieving one adversely affects the others. This paper analyses the economic sustainability of an environmental initiative, namely, effluent treatment plant (ETP), adopted by an Indian textile industry.

Two situations have been considered for the analysis. First, pure economic view with the operating and installed capacities has been considered. Second, combined economic-environmental view using shadow prices of undesirable outputs (biological oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, total nitrogen, total phosphorous, etc.) has been analysed.

It has been found that when pure economic view is considered, the net present value (NPV) of the ETP with present operating capacity (10,200 kL/day) is negative, implying that it is not economically sustainable. However, if the ETP is operated with the full installed capacity (17,000 kL/day), it becomes economically sustainable except in the case of very high cost of capital (13%). Finally, when shadow prices of undesirable outputs are considered, the NPV becomes positive, bolstering the economic-environmental sustainability of ETP.

In future, multiple case studies should be conducted in similar organisations to extend the general applicability of the outcome of this study. This research considers the economic and environmental aspects of ETP. However, social benefits have not been considered in this research work, which can definitely be addressed in future endeavours.

Though very high capital investment of ETP acts as a barrier, the results of this study imply that the top management of textile and clothing organisations should look at it from the holistic economic-environmental viewpoint. The use of ETP also leads to social benefits by improving the health of local community and by reducing their hospitalisation, medical expenditure and absenteeism from school and workplace. The outcome of this research may enthuse the entrepreneurs to adopt environmental initiatives.

The paper provides a framework to evaluate the economic feasibility of ETP by considering the time value of money. It is demonstrated with a real case that the environmental initiatives can be economically rewarding.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the financial and economic aspects of the renewable energy sector aiming to develop and present a project feasibility analysis model that allows the public sector to master plan socially beneficial infrastructure projects and to find financially viable options for private investments. This paper develops a general frame that can be harmonized to a certain project by applying relevant country specific schemes.

The cost-benefit analysis (CBA) approach is used to develop relevant formulas aiming to compare the economic internal rate of return (EIRR) and financial internal rate of return (FIRR) of the possible investment options. The IRR method is used for the development of a platform that will allow comparing different project alternatives and choosing an optimal model for both public and private partners. A case study approach from Uzbekistan is used to highlight the implementation possibilities of the model based on a certain country example.

This paper develops a decision-making frame allowing the public sector to find organizational options that provide economically viable projects and at the same time attract private investors in the latter. The designed map of possible benefits, costs and revenue mechanisms allows practitioners to analyze the economic and financial viability of the existing combinations by using the developed model.

The developed model will allow the public sector to use the needed data on different possible design models in the developed formulas in order to identify the EIRR and FIRR of each option. Nevertheless, the application of the model will be possible after considering country specific options needed for CBA. The private sector can use the model to identify the financially acceptable options for the investments.

The paper provides the decision makers with a sound tool to identify the possible combinations of the options to conduct a relevant project with private investments in the renewable energy sector and to choose the model that generates the highest social welfare.

Written in response to many enquiries about how the social audit is linked to quality control issues, reviews the developmental history of the social audit and its links to government regulations. Discusses and analyses ethical dilemmas.

This paper reviews and synthesizes the extensive literature that investigates turnover in public accounting firms.

This paper initially identifies turnover studies by searching two commonly used business databases, ABI and Business Source. Subsequently, references in these studies are examined. Over 100 published studies of accounting firms are identified.

Prior turnover studies can be classified by the underlying theory: psychological attachment; role theory; mentoring; and organizational justice. Using these theories, prior research has examined a wide variety of issues such as the role of gender in turnover.

Turnover is a significant and long-term problem in accounting firms. Practitioners and researchers have long noted that firms lose the costs of training employees who leave the firm. Recently, many in the auditing field have recognized that employee turnover may reduce audit quality. This paper summarizes prior turnover research, which may provide guidance to future researchers and managers of accounting firms.

This study fills a void in the accounting literature, which is missing a comprehensive and up to date review of prior studies of turnover in accounting firms. Opportunities for future research are also explored. While much has been learned, some theoretical and methodological issues remain unresolved.