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Before we start looking for information on a specific company, it would be logical to first find our what type of company it is. Broadly speaking, companies fall into two major categories, namely, private and public. A private company could in turn be a sole proprietorship, a partnership or an incorporated enterprise. A public company, on the other hand could be a parent company or a subsidiary, affiliate or a division of the parent. In addition, it is possible for either type of company to be a franchise or be of foreign origin. For our purposes, we may define a public company to be a company whose stock is listed on a national or a regional stock exchange and any company that is not public is a private company. Although the process of business formation is beyond the scope of this review, it would facilitate one's research if one is familiar with sources that provide information in this area. Besides, there is a constant demand in business libraries for information on how to set up businesses.

Once dismissed as a dismal science, economics has, over a period of three centuries, acquired a respectability, signified quite appropriately by the institution of a separate Nobel prize. It is not any longer a study dealing with the simple laws of supply and demand. Today, it is an extensive and well developed academic discipline with its own specialized branches such as econometrics. Today's student of economics faces the problem common to most other disciplines, namely, proliferation of the subject literature. Luckily for him, there is no dearth of guidebooks and manuals which attempt to teach the beginner the art and science of looking for and finding appropriate information. These include The Uses of Economics Literature, How to Find Out About Economics, Economics and Commerce: The Sources of Information and Their Organization, and Economics: Bibliographic Guide to Reference Books and Information Sources. Any standard textbook would provide an adequate introduction to the basic concepts in the various branches of economics like economic theory, economic history, labor economics, mathematical economics, microeconomics, macroeconomics and price theory. These texts, however, may not contain information on the state of the art in each area. For this purpose, one needs to resort to sources like the AEA Survey of Economic Theory and the Survey of Applied Economics. On a lay level, we have the annual Readings in Economics, which deals with current economic problems, like inflation, unemployment, growth, income distribution, externalities and international economics. Basically, it is a collection of writings dealing with the foundations of economics and its critics. An important recent development in the publication of the state of the art reviews in the various branches of economics will be highlighted in my second annual State‐of‐the‐Art Survey of Reference Materials in Business and Economics. An introductory survey of literature is available from publications such as The Literature of Social Sciences and the Sources of Information in the Social Sciences: A Guide to Literature.

The institution of an annual series devoted to current and ongoing research in economics and business should be considered one of the notable developments during the period under review. Long standing need for such a reference not withstanding, there has been until this year no systematic attempt to organize a continuing series which concentrated on selected areas of ongoing research, especially adapted to the Jahrbucher format. By facilitating the publication of research papers which are longer than the conventional journal‐length article yet shorter than a monograph, publishing outlets available to scholars in the field have been infinitely expanded. Two years ago, the Royal Economic Society and the Social Science Research Council of Great Britain, developed an experimental series, published by Macmillan, entitled Surveys of Applied Economics. The JAI Press, Greenwich, Conn., has now come out with an annual series, which is expected to fill the gaps in at least seventeen areas of economic theory and business. These are briefly listed below, with pertinent bibliographical citations: Research in Economic Anthropology: An Annual Compilation of Research. Series editor, George Dalton. vol. 1. Sept. 1977‐ $22.00 ISBN 0‐89232‐040‐9; Research in Economic History: An Annual Compilation of Research. Series editor, Paul Uselding. vol. 1. Sept. 1976‐ $22.50 ISBN 0‐89232‐001‐X; Research in Health Economics: An Annual Compilation of Research. Series editor, Richard M. Scheffler. vol. 1. Sept. 1977‐ $22.50 ISBN 0‐89232‐042‐7; Research in Human Capital and Development: An Annual Compilation of Research. Series editor, Ismail Sirageldin. vol. 1. June/July 1977‐ $22.50 ISBN 0‐89232‐019‐2; Research in International Business and Finance: An Annual Compilation of Research. Series editor, Robert G. Hawkins. vol. 1. May/June 1977‐ $23.50 ISBN 0‐89232‐031‐1; Research in Labor Economics: An Annual Compilation of Research. Series editor, Ronald G. Ehrenberg. vol. 1. March 1977‐ $22.50 ISBN 0‐89232‐017‐6; Research in Law and Economics: An Annual Compilation of Research. Series editor, Richard O. Zerbe. vol. 1. Sept. 1977‐ $22.50 ISBN 0‐89232‐028‐1; Research in Marketing: An Annual Compilation in Research. Series editor, Jagdish N. Sheth. vol. 1. June 1977‐ $22.50 ISBN 0‐89232‐041‐9; Research in Philosophy and Technology: An Annual Compilation of Research. Series editor, Paul T. Durbin. vol. 1. March 1977‐ $22.50 ISBN 0‐89232‐022‐2; Research in Political Economy: An Annual Compilation of Research. Series editor, Paul Zarembka. vol. 1. Sept. 1977‐ $22.50 ISBN 0‐89232‐020‐6; Research in Population Economics: An Annual Compilation of Research. Series editor, Julian L. Simon. vol. 1. April 1977‐ $22.50 ISBN 0‐89232‐018‐4; Applications of Management Science. Series editor, Matthew J. Sobel. vol. 1. 1977‐ $22.50. ISBN 0‐89232‐023‐0; Research in Econometrics. Series editor, Dennis J. Aigner. vol. 1. 1977‐ $22.50 ISBN 0‐89232‐039‐7; Research in Experimental Economics. Series editor, Vernon L. Smith. vol. 1. 1977‐ $22.50 ISBN 0‐89232‐030‐3; Research in Finance. Series editor, Haim Levy. vol. 1. 1977‐ $22.50 ISBN 0‐89232‐043‐5; Research in Organizational Behavior. Series editor, Barry Staw. vol. 1. 1977‐ $22.50 ISBN 0‐89232‐045‐1; Research in Public Policy and Management. Series editor, Colin Blaydon. vol. 1. 1977‐ $22.50 ISBN 0‐89232‐044‐3.

Compare and contrast how the accounting, organizational behavior and other literatures analyze sunk costs. Sunk costs form a key part of the decision-making component of the management accounting literature, which generally include previously incurred and unrecoverable costs. Management accountants believe, since current or future actions cannot change sunk costs, decision makers should ignore them. Thus, ongoing fixed costs or previously incurred sunk costs, while relevant for matters of accountability such as costing, income determination, and performance evaluation are irrelevant for most short- and long-term decisions. However, the organizational behavior literature indicates that sunk costs affect decision makers’ actions – especially their emotional attachments to the related project and the asymmetry of attitudes regarding the recognizing of losses and gains. Called the “sunk cost effect” or “sunk cost fallacy,” this conflict in sunk costs’ underlying nature reflects one element of incoherence in contemporary accounting discourse. We discuss this sunk cost conflict from an accounting and a philosophical perspective to denote some ambiguities that decision usefulness and accountability introduces into accounting discourse.

Review, summarize and analyze the above literatures

Managerial accountants can apply many lessons from the various literature sources.

We also show how differing opinions on how to treat sunk costs impact a firm’s decision-making process both economically and socially.

This survey is mainly concerned with certain basic sources of information aimed at persons occupying administrative and managerial positions in business and industry as well as academicians and students in business schools. It covers management theory and methods, industrial and personnel relations and legislation affecting such relationships, and manpower planning and related data sources. Since much of the current thinking and research on management is disseminated variously as reports and articles in scholarly periodicals, it would be logical to begin with indexing and abstracting sources which enable retrieval of such data. These should not be confused with serial publications whose aim is to provide the subject specialist with means to keep abreast of developments in his field, like Management Contents, Marketing Executive Digest and McGraw‐Hill Management Awareness Program.

This study aims to investigate the optimal process parameters of the wire-cut electrical discharge machining (WCEDM) for the machining of the GZR-AA7475 hybrid metal matrix composite (HMMC). HMMCs are prepared with 2 Wt.% graphite and 4 Wt.% zirconium dioxide reinforced with aluminium alloy 7475 (GZR-AA7475) composite by using the stir casting method. The objective is to enhance the mechanical properties of the material while preserving its unique features. WCEDM with a 0.18 mm molybdenum wire electrode is used for machining the composite.

To conduct experimental studies, a Taguchi L27 orthogonal array was adopted. Input variables such as peak current (I_p), pulse-on-time (T_ON) and flushing pressure (P_F) were used. The effect of process parameters on the output responses, such as material removal rate (MRR), surface roughness rate (SRR) and wire wear ratio (WWR), were investigated. The grey relational analysis (GRA) is used to obtain the optimal combination of the process parameters. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was also used to identify the significant process parameters affecting the output responses.

Results from the current study concluded that the optimal condition for grey relational grade is obtained at T_ON = 105 µs, I_p = 100 A and P_F = 90 kg/cm². Peak current is the most prominent parameter influencing the MRR, whereas SRR and WRR are highly influenced by flushing pressure.

Identifying the optimal process parameters in WCEDM for machining of GZR-AA7475 HMMC. ANOVA and GRA are used to obtain the optimal combination of the process parameters.

In this survey, we would be concerned, not so much with the sources that provide information directly on companies themselves, as on those which contain composite statistical and other types of data, often required in evaluating corporate and market performance. Some of them relate to corporate reorganizations and taxation, stock prices, price averages and indices, capital adjustments and business and financial ratios. We may also look at some books which explain the organization and functions of national and regional stock exchanges, stock market timing and forecasting techniques, statistical publications describing market activity, and some general guidebooks used often by investors.

Artificial fruit ripening is hazardous to mankind. In the recent past, artificial fruit ripening is increasing gradually due to its commercial benefits. To discriminate the type of fruit ripening involved at the vendors’ side, there is a great demand for on-sight ethylene detection in a nondestructive manner. Therefore, this study aims to deal with a comparison of various laboratory and portable methods developed so far with high-performance metrics to identify the ethylene detection at fruit ripening site.

This paper focuses on various types of technologies proposed up to date in ethylene detection, fabrication methods and signal conditioning circuits for ethylene detection in parts per million and parts per billion levels. The authors have already developed an infrared (IR) sensor to detect ethylene and also developed a lab-based setup belonging to the electrochemical sensing methods to detect ethylene for the fruit ripening application.

The authors have developed an electrochemical sensor based on multi-walled carbon nanotubes whose performance is relatively higher than the sensors that were previously reported in terms of material, sensitivity and selectivity. For identifying the best sensing technology for optimization of ethylene detection for fruit ripening discrimination process, authors have developed an IR-based ethylene sensor and also semiconducting metal-oxide ethylene sensor which are all compared with literature-based comparable parameters. This review paper mainly focuses on the potential possibilities for developing portable ethylene sensing devices for investigation applications.

The authors have elaborately discussed the new chemical and physical methods of ethylene detection and quantification from their own developed methods and also the key findings of the methods proposed by fellow researchers working on this field. The authors would like to declare that the extensive analysis carried out in this technical survey could be used for developing a cost-effective and high-performance portable ethylene sensing device for fruit ripening and discrimination applications.

In today’s global competition, supply chain quality management is the key to a firms’ competitiveness. However, managers find that making sound quality and pricing decisions under a complex multi-echelon in the current competitive electronic commerce environment is daunting and challenging. The purpose of this paper is to examine the optimum quality strategies under different cooperative mechanisms and investigate its effects on channel members’ profits.

This paper is a result of a China-UK collaborative research effort, involving researchers with expertise in information systems, quality management, supply chain management, pricing, and game theory models. The authors consider the quality decisions of a single product in a supply chain system that consists of a supplier and two competing manufacturers. The authors examine the optimum quality strategies under different cooperative mechanisms and investigate its effects on channel members’ profits. A modified Nerlove-Arrow model is employed to investigate the quality levels on goodwill and product sales.

The results reveal that the traditional cooperative program is not very effective in the horizontal competitive market; and each channel member may have a profit improvement when the supplier integrates with a manufacturer.

The authors believe that this paper will contribute to the existing body of knowledge. Moreover, the paper provides insights for managers to better manage their supply chain quality management in an information-centric context.

The word “document” in the title has been used to denote publications from our federal government, foreign governments and regional and international organizations. Most readers are aware of the section on comparative international economics, contained in the Statistical Abstract of the United States. It includes information on population, economic growth indicators like GNP, trade, agricultural and industrial production, employment, wages and prices and social indicators like health and literacy in all foreign countries. Brief though the coverage of this section is, it would nevertheless be sufficient to satisfy the needs of most library users. The Abstract also conveniently provides citations to various national and international sources from which the information was gathered. Those who require more detailed data can resort to the many national statistical almanacs and compendiums issued regularly by the statistical departments of the national governments. A prime example of such an almanac would be the Annual Abstract of Statistics relating to the United Kingdom. We may note in this connection that these statistical handbooks are now available in microform. In addition to the statistical offices, the central banks of the countries involved issue regular reports on the monetary and economic situation within the countries. For instance, publications like the West German Monatsbericht contain a wealth of economic data not ordinarily needed by most lay people. Like the central banks, foreign embassies also issue pamphlet type reports aimed at increasing the host country's interest in trade and tourism in their home countries. The annual report entitled Italy: An Economic Profile falls under this category. Finally, there is a wealth of commercially published statistical reviews such as the Economic Intelligence Unit's Quarterly Economic Reviews, containing composite information on national economies. Those interested in learning more about the various available statistical sources may consult excellent bibliographies like the American Statistics Index, Foreign Language Index, Guide to the Basic Statistics in Countries of the ECAFE Region and Sources of European Economic Information. Other similar guides include the following: Statistics Africa‐Sources for Market Research, Statistics America‐Sources for Market Research; Statistics Europe‐Sources for Social, Economic and Market Research; and Statistics Asia and Australasia‐Sources for Market Research. In this survey, we will be concerned only with some recent and most used documents, which provide information on both the United States and foreign countries. We may note here that it is often useful to know about foreign publications containing economic data on the United States, even though there is no scarcity of indigenous sources dealing with domestic issues. The reason for this would be clear if one examines the peculiarity of some of these publications. If one wants to know about the latest consumer price index for the United States, one can get it from the many Bureau of Labor Statistics Reports. There is a problem however in that the BLS still uses the 1967 base year to compute its indices. If one wants a base year later than 1967, one has to resort to non‐American publications like the OECD's Economic Indicators, which use a later base year. Again, data may be available locally on an annual basis and not by quarter. Patrons may solve this problem by looking at some of the statistical documents to be discussed in the course of this survey. Likewise, one can avoid buying expensive foreign data books and almanacs by a judicious use of publications from our federal government. It is also good to know that journals such as the Survey of Current Business and Business Conditions Digest contain issues and sections devoted to comparative economic indicators.