Search results

The aim of this paper is to study the optimal pricing decision in a supply chain with a dual distribution channel in a centralized and decentralized decision-making systems and investigate the economic impact of retail services on pricing behaviors with respect to the power structures.

To reach the equilibrium behavior of decision-makers, two-stage optimization, the Stackelberg game and the Bertrand–Nash game have been used. Also, to explore the effect of environmental uncertainty on the behavior of decision-maker, demand functions are characterized as an uncertain price dependent, service dependent and channel dependent. Decision parameters are based on experts’ belief degree, in the sense of uncertainty theory initiated by Liu (2007).

Obtained results reveal that the retail services have a strategic role in the centralized supply chain and the decentralized supply chain with dominant manufacturer, while both the supply chain and the consumer suffer from higher environmental indeterminacy.

This study is based on possible scenarios of dual distribution system only. Further research is recommended to investigate the applicability of the authors framework in different distribution systems.

The study findings are believed to be valuable for supply chains and organizations about to make a strategic decision on price of their good/service.

The paper contributes to the scarce literature on Uncertainty Theory initiated by Liu (2007), and combination of it with Game Theory for pricing in distribution system of supply chains. The study also contributes by investigating impact of non-price competitive factor (level of service) on pricing strategy.

This chapter provides an alternative interpretation of the emergence of the “Ramsey-Cass-Koopmans” growth model, a framework which, alongside the overlapping generation model, is the dominant approach in today’s macroeconomics. By focusing on the role Paul Samuelson played through the works he developed in the turnpike literature, the author’s goal is to provide a more accurate history of growth theory of the 1940–1960s, one which started before Solow (1956) but never had him as a central reference. Inspired by John von Neumann’s famous 1945 article, Samuelson wrote his first turnpike paper by trying to conjecture an alternative optimal growth path (Samuelson, 1949 [1966]). In the 1960s, after reformulating the intertemporal utility model presented in Ramsey (1928), Samuelson began to propound it as a representative agent model. Through Samuelson’s interactions with colleagues and PhD students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and given his standing in the profession, he encouraged a broader use of that device in macroeconomics, particularly, in growth theory. With the publication of Samuelson (1965), Tjalling Koopmans and Lionel McKenzie rewrote their own articles in order to account for the new approach. This work complements a recently written account on growth theory by Assaf and Duarte (2018).

The modern concept of labor hoarding emerged in early 1960s, and soon became a standard part of mainstream economists’ explanation of the working of labor markets. The concept represents the convergence of three important elements: an empirical finding that labor productivity was procyclical; a framing of this finding as a “puzzle” or anomaly for the basic neoclassical theory of the firm, and a proposed resolution of the puzzle based on optimizing behavior of the firm in the presence of costs of hiring, firing, and training workers. This paper recounts the history of each of these elements, and how they were woven together into the labor hoarding concept. Each history involves people associated with various research traditions and motivated by an array of questions, many of which were unrelated to the questions that the modern labor hoarding concept was ultimately created to address.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the added value of combining a momentum indicator with a value indicator in varying stock market conditions.

A comprehensive sample of Finnish non‐financial stocks is first divided into three‐quantile portfolios based on valuation multiples and composite value measures. The value and glamour portfolios are divided further into two‐sextile portfolios based on the price momentum indicator. The performance of portfolios is evaluated on the basis of their raw and risk‐adjusted returns. Moreover, the impact of the stock market cycle on relative performance of quantile portfolios is examined.

Taking account of price momentum beside relative valuation criteria enhances the performance of most of the value‐only portfolios during the full sample period (1993‐2009). During bullish conditions, the inclusion of a momentum criterion somewhat adds value to an investor, but during bearish conditions this added value is negative.

The sample of stocks is not large in spite of its comprehensiveness from the local stock market aspect. Future studies can apply the approach to other stock markets.

The paper provides useful implications in portfolio management. The combination of the value and momentum criteria has paid off to the investor, despite the fact that its added value during bearish periods is negative, on an average.

This is the first time that the impact of the stock market cycle on the added value of combining price momentum with composite value measures as a portfolio‐formation criterion is examined.

The purpose of this paper is to study the functionality of additively manufactured (AM) parts, mainly depending on their dimensional accuracy and surface finish. However, the products manufactured using AM usually suffer from defects like roughness or uneven surfaces. This paper discusses the various surface quality improvement techniques, including how to reduce surface defects, surface roughness and dimensional accuracy of AM parts.

There are many different types of popular AM methods. Unfortunately, these AM methods are susceptible to different kinds of surface defects in the product. As a result, pre- and postprocessing efforts and control of various AM process parameters are needed to improve the surface quality and reduce surface roughness.

In this paper, the various surface quality improvement methods are categorized based on the type of materials, working principles of AM and types of finishing processes. They have been divided into chemical, thermal, mechanical and hybrid-based categories.

The review has evaluated the possibility of various surface finishing methods for enhancing the surface quality of AM parts. It has also discussed the research perspective of these methods for surface finishing of AM parts at micro- to nanolevel surface roughness and better dimensional accuracy.

This paper represents a comprehensive review of surface quality improvement methods for both metals and polymer-based AM parts.

The purpose of this paper is to show that in a time of globality, companies operate in a business environment in which high speed dictates mutual interactions and, at the same time, requires a radically different approach to data collection, storage, and processing based on an integrated view of the data.

The author believes that frauds in the corporate environment after the fall of the Berlin Wall have to be investigated through the similarity of models under which citizens are subjugated by means of financial machination by the ruling political and economic elites.

The innovativeness of data mining techniques is reflected primarily in the radical turn away from the retrospective data access that used to be typical of decision support systems, toward prospective and proactive information delivery. Data mining is a technique offering undeniable benefits by improving the quality of life and making one's life easier, and bringing more order and responsibility into the behavior of institutions. But on the other hand, data mining poses numerous questions relating to privacy, legality and ethics. The trouble is that there is a permanent threat of using data mining applications beyond the limits of its original purposes.

The New Economy, whose driving force is new information and communication technologies (ICTs), requires new accounting practice which directs the measuring system to a pattern which connects the value concept and the action that will generate future profit.

The paper is a plea for proactive company actions aimed at strengthening control mechanisms and internal controls. The future will bring a growing demand for forensic accounting services.

The Fabry-Perot sapphire optical fiber sensor is an excellent choice for high-temperature sensing in civil and military fields, such as oil exploitation, engine and turbine. The purpose of this paper is to study the high-reflective film system withstanding high temperature in Fabry-Perot sapphire optical fiber high-temperature sensor. To improve the performance of the sensor and reduce the difficulty of signal acquisition, one of the key ways is to enhance the normalized light intensity of F-P sensor, which can be achieved by coating the high-reflective film system on the fiber end.

The high-reflective film system can be achieved by a multilayer film with alternating ZrO₂ and Al₂O₃ film layers whose refractive indexes are different. In addition, the optimum film alternating sequences and the influence of the number of film layers, incident angle and temperature should be obtained by numerical analysis.

With the increase of the number of film layers, the reflectivity rises gradually and the change trend is more and more gentle. A minimum of the spectral reflectivity will occur at a certain incident angle depending on the design of the periodic multilayer system. Temperature affects the reflectivity of high-reflective film system. The normalized light intensity of the F-P sensor coated with high-reflective film system enhances greatly which is helpful to the signal demodulation. The temperature response of the F-P sensor is mainly determined by the characteristics of the F-P cavity.

Higher reflectivity, lower cost and easy signal acquisition are the most important features of the introduced high-reflective film system for the Fabry-Perot sapphire optical fiber high-temperature sensor.

The purpose of this paper is to present a novel manufacturing process that aims to pattern metal tracks onto polyimide at atmospheric pressure and ambient environment. The process can be scaled up for industrial applications.

From a thorough literature survey, different approaches were carried out for processing polyimide. Following a design of experiments for the processing and various characterisation techniques, a micro‐coil was manufactured as a test demonstrator.

The characteristics of some main formaldehyde‐based electroless copper baths were compared. The quality of the sidewalls was characterised and the performance of the process was assessed.

This paper demonstrates a high‐value manufacturing technique that is mass manufacturable, low cost and suitable for use on 3D surfaces. Criteria required for the development of a direct‐writing process have been described. The issues surrounding electroless plating on polyimide have been explained.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the differences in consumers’ preferences to food safety label (FSL) on vegetables in central and south central Chile in terms of sociodemographic characteristics, consumers’ food safety knowledge and frequency of vegetables consumption.

A survey was applied to 1,201 consumers in charge of buying vegetables for their households. The questionnaire measured consumer preference for FSL using tomatoes as a case study.

The most important attributes for consumers were price (57.3 percent), FSL (19.7 percent), point of sale (11.86 percent) and production system (11.07 percent). Cluster analysis was used to differentiate three types of consumers. The majority (50.5 percent) are consumers oriented to price of tomatoes more than other attributes. A second group (30.1 percent) considers it important to purchase tomatoes at the lowest price with the existence of a FSL. A minority (19.4 percent) was oriented to purchasing tomatoes with a FSL. The groups differ according to sociodemographic characteristics, food safety knowledge and frequency of vegetables consumption.

The study was conducted in country in South America. The results revealed that the majority of consumers choose price over FSL. Nevertheless, a potential market niche was identified that was motivated by FSL as a potential risk-reduction strategy when making choices about fresh vegetables purchase.

FSL is a marketing tool to help the consumers about food decisions.

To avoid problems associated to unsafe vegetables, FSL is used as a potential risk-reduction strategy when making choices about fresh vegetables purchase.

The research provides information about a market niche of consumers interested in the existence of an explicit FSL, due to their awareness of the risks associated with the consumption of vegetables. This topic has received little research in Latin American developing countries.

This paper aims to examine how information sharing affects cash flow performance through the competitive capabilities of low cost or product quality.

In total, 159 survey responses were collected from Norwegian manufacturing firms in 2018. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to analyse the data collected.

The low-cost competitive capability was found to positively mediate the effect of information sharing on cash flow performance. However, product quality competitive capability did not have a significant mediating effect between information sharing and cash flow performance. Rather, customer satisfaction fully mediated the relationship between product quality, capability and cash flow performance. The empirical results not only support how the competitive capabilities can be developed through information sharing but also illustrate that the competitive capabilities affect cash flow performance through different mediating routes.

While information sharing and competitive capabilities have been studied previously with regard to financial performance, less emphasis has been placed on how customer satisfaction might explain the mediated relationship between product quality, competitive capability and financial performance. In addition, financial performance is measured by the proxy of cash flow. The use of cash flow as a performance measure leads to a more forward-looking financial performance measure. This is especially appropriate for non-listed firms.