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This study investigates, both theoretically and empirically, the effects of joint ventures on traffic. Although alliances are a pre-condition for joint ventures, both cooperation agreements are different in their nature. The reason is that alliances are revenue-sharing agreements, whereas joint ventures also involve a cost-sharing commitment. Our empirical analysis focuses on the transatlantic market, including non-stop routings (interhub markets) and one-stopover routings (interline markets). Our theoretical and empirical findings emphasize the relevance of economies of traffic density and reveal a positive effect of joint ventures on traffic, both in interhub and interline markets.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

The cost of concrete ground‐supported floor slabs represents a significant proportion of the total capital cost of industrial projects. There are many structural design issues that impact on the concrete contractors’ method of construction. This is becoming more apparent with the use of new high‐technology levelling and trowelling equipment, which has significantly increased the pour and finishing rates, resulting in much faster slab construction times compared with the traditional methods of construction. Selection of both the design and the construction methods exerts a large influence on the initial cost. According to the results of the research reported in this paper, it may be possible to save between 2‐4 per cent of the building cost if high technology solutions are incorporated into the design and construction process. This paper investigates cost issues that impact on the design and construction of ground‐supported floors for industrial buildings.

The purpose of this study is to propose a new coordinated dynamic demand lot-size and delivery planning problem (CDLSDP), in which the delivery policy is integrated into the coordinated dynamic demand lot-size problem (CDLSP).

As a non-deterministic polynomial complete (NP-complete) problem, this CDLSDP seems difficult to be solved by a polynomial-time method. To handle this problem effectively and efficiently, a four-phase heuristic that balances the setup and inventory costs in the coordinating and delivery stages is designed to find near-optimal solutions.

Numerous computational experiments show that the proposed four-phase heuristic is effective and efficient. For 1,800 experiments with different scales, and different joint setup costs, solutions by the proposed heuristic have an average gap no more than 1.34% from the optimal solution.

To decrease total system cost, the CDLSDP optimizes the time-phased replenishment and delivery schedule, which includes joint setup cost, item setup, delivery and inventory cost, for each period. An effective and efficient four-phase heuristic is designed to solve the CDLSDP.

Compared with the traditional CDLSP, the delivery policy is considered by the new CDLSDP. Moreover, the proposed four-phase heuristic is a good candidate for solving the CDLSDP.

This paper provides a review and synthesis of past research regarding financial disclosure management by nongovernmental nonprofit organizations and suggests directions for future study. The primary purpose of this review is to summarize the evidence on financial disclosure management to help regulators and other stakeholders understand why, how, and to what extent nonprofits engage in this behavior. The paper begins by defining disclosure management in nonprofit organizations and exploring the motivations for why it might occur. Next is a survey of the nongovernmental nonprofit financial reporting environment: objectives, common practices, and the informational needs of users of nonprofit financial reports. Research exploring the motives, methods, and consequences of disclosure management is summarized. The evidence suggests that nongovernmental nonprofit managers have a variety of incentives to manage reported numbers and that they do in fact alter spending decisions, choose accounting methods, and design cost allocations to achieve certain performance benchmarks. Furthermore, this review sheds light on the consequences of disclosure management and what can or should be done to limit it.

The complexity and competitiveness of global business is increasingly being managed by international strategic alliances. As a result, the two central tenets of market‐based‐capitalism, that competitive market forces ensure optimum innovation‐led growth and that individual firms can best accomplish this by competition rather than cooperation, are being re‐examined. These tenets directed management in an elaborate process of alliances control, which is now giving way to a system of control based on trust. The economic model explaining the formation of alliances and the research on joint venture alliances are discussed. This is followed by a discussion of trust and a process‐approach to trust development. Finally, a case methodology to examine evolving IJV relationships is proposed.

As the start of a new product development (NPD) process, the front fuzzy end (FFE) is believed to determine new product performance to a large extent. However, its effects on new product performance, particularly in terms of quality and cost, lack empirical evidence in the extant literature. Moreover, the joint performance effects of the FFE and cross-functional interfaces in later NPD stages (i.e. product development and product launch) are largely overlooked and deserve further investigation. Therefore, this study aims to explore the direct effects of the FFE and later stages’ joint moderating effects on new product performance (i.e. quality and cost) from a holistic process view.

A conceptual model is proposed to hypothesize the FFE–new product performance relationships and the joint performance effects of cross-functional interface management. A sample of 196 firms from an international survey is used and hierarchical linear regression is employed to test the proposed hypotheses.

This study finds that FFE implementation contributes to both new product quality and cost performance. Moreover, interface management in multiple NPD stages has synergistic performance effects. Specifically, the FFE, customer involvement in product development and manufacturing flexibility in product launch jointly improve new product quality performance, while the FFE, supplier involvement in product development and manufacturing flexibility in product launch jointly improve new product cost performance.

This study extends the NPD literature by deepening the understanding of the key roles of the FFE on new product performance and evidencing the synergistic effects of cross-functional interfaces in multiple NPD stages. Further, this study also highlights the differential joint moderating effects of interface management in later NPD stages on new product quality and cost performance. This study also offers insightful implications to NPD managers.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of joint liability in improving the repayment performance of a microfinance program.

This is a systematic review of the theoretical and empirical literature.

The theoretical literature has shown, using models of peer selection, peer monitoring and peer pressure, that joint liability overcomes both the informational and enforcement failures present in credit markets for the poor. However, the empirical literature does not yield a clear answer on how much of the success of microfinance programs can be attributed to the effect of joint liability alone without considering the effect of other instruments used by microfinance programs. Further, it is seen that joint liability does not work in isolation, but its effect is dependent on social, cultural and economic environment.

An important future research agenda could be to study the roles of different overlapping mechanisms in group lending and to look at their interactions.

The concept of joint liability works well both in the rural and urban areas, but different social, cultural and economic factors should be analyzed before initiating a microfinance program. In developed regions, focus should be on strengthening peer selection and peer monitoring, as information problems are prevalent. In underdeveloped regions, the major problem is of strategic default, so the focus should be on strengthening social sanctions.

Findings can be used for optimal design of credit contracts for the poor.

The paper reviews the existing literature on – “whether and how” – joint liability lending works in inefficient credit markets and comes up with practical implications for the microfinance sector.

The transition from a traditional purchasing system to a JIT purchasing system can be a slow process or even unattainable, because of unreliable suppliers. The purchaser tries to co‐operate with the vendor, with the goal of receiving smaller, more frequent deliveries, on time, with the quality and quantity required. Often the vendor is ready to co‐operate, but is unable to fulfil these requirements. Provides simple models and methods to aid purchasers in this transition state. Gives simple approximate formulas for the minimum safety stock necessary to ensure the required service level of supply. Considers the case of random delays in shipments, random yield and uncertain demand, which are typical characteristics during the transition period. This safety stock depends on the order quantity and the number of shipments. Provides a simple method to find the order quantity, the number of shipments and safety stock, which minimize the joint total cost of the vendor and purchaser and ensure the required level of supply. Analyzes the savings provided by this method and the sensitivity of the models, in detail.

Supplier involvement in cost reduction efforts has been concentrated mainly in the product development phase of the life cycle of the product. Often this concentration on the early phases of the product life cycle is defended with referral to the 80/20 rule that says that 80 per cent of the manufacturing costs are determined or committed during product design and development. The purpose of this paper is to look for empirical evidence that supports this rule and discuss the limited literature on joint buyer/supplier cost reduction programmes beyond the product development stage of the product life cycle.

An extensive literature survey on both the cost commitment rule and collaborative cost reduction programmes beyond the product development stage was conducted.

It was found that empirical evidence in the literature for the 80/20 rule on cost commitment in product design is only anecdotal. Even more surprisingly, compared to the literature on cost reduction in design phases, the literature on cost reduction efforts in later stages of the product life cycle is rather limited and usually ignores possibilities for supplier/buyer collaboration.

Further empirical research (suggestions provided) should assess whether the identified lack of evidence is due to a gap in the empirical literature or to lower degrees of cost commitment and attention to cost efforts beyond product design indeed existing in practice.

This paper calls practitioners to revisit the cost commitment rule and check its existence in their specific contexts. As a result of this exercise, practitioners may want to consider implementing some of the techniques reviewed in the paper that can assist in collaborative cost reduction beyond the product development stage.

Given the amount of money involved, the general applicability of the cost reduction techniques to various industries and relationships with suppliers, the opportunities for huge savings and the fact that most firms usually have many products and/or technologies at maturity stage, my research makes an important contribution by identifying both a lack of empirical evidence in the literature on the notion that 80 per cent of the costs are committed in the design phase and the limited attention given in the literature to supplier/buyer cost reduction programmes in further stages of the product life cycle.