Search results

The traditional predictor of technical inefficiency proposed by Jondrow, Lovell, Materov, and Schmidt (1982) is a conditional expectation. This chapter explores whether, and by how much, the predictor can be improved by using auxiliary information in the conditioning set. It considers two types of stochastic frontier models. The first type is a panel data model where composed errors from past and future time periods contain information about contemporaneous technical inefficiency. The second type is when the stochastic frontier model is augmented by input ratio equations in which allocative inefficiency is correlated with technical inefficiency. Compared to the standard kernel-smoothing estimator, a newer estimator based on a local linear random forest helps mitigate the curse of dimensionality when the conditioning set is large. Besides numerous simulations, there is an illustrative empirical example.

With COVID-19, while questioning the coverage areas, duties, and functionality of objects that are indispensable for our lives, we see that objects destroy the weak and the design itself eliminates the non-immune and the weak in some cases. In this process, it is of great importance to reconsider design for the reason of existence of humanity and to develop new design concepts from a holistic perspective. The decolonisation of design, social innovation, and transformations of production and consumption forms in relation to the crisis are possible with speculative design approaches. In the new world order, designing forward-looking nanotechnologies with measureless and extraordinary scenarios will be the beginning of new alternatives. Emergency situations overcome the fluid modernity in our lives and the new developing normality is possible with design projects covering emergency situations. While each crisis creates its opportunities in itself, transition design needs to be planned by adopting an interdisciplinary understanding of how to initiate and direct change in social and natural systems through design. In this study, the reconstruction of COVID-19 social distance alerts on objects in the light of science and technology will be examined.

Social entrepreneurs who use market mechanisms to solve wicked problems (Rittel & Webber, 1973) may benefit from practices based on design thinking. Design thinking offers approaches to work iteratively on both problem and solution spaces collaboratively with multiple diverse stakeholders, which is characteristic of innovating for social change. This research conceptualizes designing as a construct formed by three practices: making improvements, generating creative leaps, and problem-solving. Using Boland and Collopy’s (2004) conception of a sense-making manager, it proposes “how” nascent social entrepreneurs take actions and also proposes “what” specific activities they undertake for the development of the venture. A conceptual model proposing “what” it is that social entrepreneurs do and “how” they go about their activities affecting new venture development is tested using structural equation modeling. Preliminary support for the predictive capability of the model is encouraging, suggesting that practices based on design thinking may be further developed in order to advance theoretical understanding of the application of design thinking for social entrepreneurship.