bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Solution of Spatial Equilibrium Problems with Benders Decomposition
Authors: Polito Joseph , McCarl Bruce A. , Morin Thomas L.
Published: November 2008

Spatial equilibrium problems are frequently formulated as large scale quadratic programming problems or linear complementarity problems. We show that these problems can be reduced to two or more smaller problems with Generalized Benders Decomposition. The procedure then becomes iterative with the repetitive solution of the smaller problems. In practice, the iterative procedure has converged rapidly.
Assessment of Simple Joint Time/Risk Preference Functions
Authors: Barrager Stephen M.
Published: November 2008

In choices between consumption and investment the consumer's objective is to maximize the expected utility of lifetime consumption. This paper outlines a procedure for constructing cardinal utility functions which capture both a consumer's willingness to trade off consumption between years and his attitude toward bearing risk. Simple but flexible utility functions are specified uniquely by mathematically combining the results of three straightforward assessment tasks. The information to be assessed from the consumer is: A preferred consumption pattern for an appropriate lifetime consumption budget. A coefficient of consumption variation aversion. A coefficient of risk aversion with respect to constant annual equivalent consumption outcomes.

The consumer performs the first two tasks under deterministic conditions. Uncertainty is introduced in the last step. The advantage of this encoding procedure is the separation of deterministic trade offs and risk preference assessment into tractable, concrete subtasks.

The major contribution of this paper is the introduction of a local preference parameter with global implications similar to Pratt's risk aversion coefficient. The local parameter, called consumption variation aversion, is a measure of a consumer's attitude toward undesirable variations in the future consumption pattern. If the preference function V(c) is additive then constant variation aversion implies V(c) is a sum of exponential terms. If variation aversion is inversely proportional to consumption then V(c) is a polynomial with positive exponents. Members of these function families are simple yet they provide great flexibility in describing preferences.
Note—A Node Elimination Procedure for Townsend's Algorithm for Solving the Single Machine Quadratic Penalty Function Scheduling Problem
Authors: Bagga P. C. , Kalra K. R.
Published: November 2008

In this note, a node elimination procedure has been suggested in case the two sequences obtained by using Townsend's (Townsend, W. 1978. The single machine problem with quadratic penalty function of completion times: A branch and bound solution. Management Sci. 24 (5) 530–534.) sufficient conditions for solving the single machine quadratic penalty function scheduling problem contain a subset Jr of r jobs in the first r positions. Numerical illustrations and computational experience has been given in the end.
The Effects of Promotion by Seniority in Growth-Constrained Organizations
Authors: Stanford Robert E.
Published: November 2008

This paper develops a balanced growth fractional flow model for the opportunities for promotion, length of service, and career earnings of personnel in a hierarchical manpower organization, and relates these characteristics to the expenditures needed to maintain the system for a specified period of operation. The primary controls available in the model are the proportions of rank members promoted to higher ranks during each period, the proportions of personnel in each rank who are promoted on the basis of seniority, and the growth rate of the sire of the system.

Using an analytical approach, we investigate the responses to different emphases on seniority in the promotion process, and determine the effect of alternative system growth rates on these responses. Among significant findings are: (i) in systems of stable size, mobility, time-in-service and some career earnings characteristics are independent of the emphasis on seniority in the promotion process; (ii) both the maximum possible periods of service in each rank and the average levels of experience in each rank decrease as promotions-by-seniority increase and as the system growth rate increases; (iii) the total time served in each rank decreases as the system growth rate increases, but decreases as promotions-by-seniority increase only in systems that are stable or growing in size; in contracting systems, total time served in each rank increases as promotions-by-seniority increase; (iv) the trends for changes in the mobility of members in each rank are opposite to those for total time served in the rank; (v) the rank support costs decrease as the promotion rates, the system growth rate, and promotions-by-seniority increase, although these costs are much less sensitive to different emphases on seniority than to changes in the growth rate.
Some New Branching and Bounding Criteria for the Asymmetric Travelling Salesman Problem
Authors: Carpaneto Giorgio , Toth Paolo
Published: November 2008

Many algorithms have been developed for the optimal solution of the asymmetric travelling salesman problem: the most efficient ones are based on the subtour elimination approach. This paper presents a breadth-first branch and bound algorithm which differs from the method of Smith, Srinivasan and Thompson in the selection of the subtour to be split, in the ordering of the arcs in the selected subtour, in the computation of different partial lower bounds and in different data structures to facilitate the updating of the cost matrix. Extensive computational results considering random problems with up to 240 vertices are presented for various ranges of the coefficients of the cost matrix.
Invited Note—Some References for the Ellipsoid Algorithm
Authors: Wolfe Philip
Published: November 2008

From personal interest and also on behalf of the Mathematical Programming Society I have been trying to keep afloat in the flood of writing that followed Khachian's “Polynomial Time Algorithm for Linear Programming” (Khachian, L. G. 1979. A polynomial algorithm in linear programming. Dokl. Akad. Nauk SSSR 244 (5) 1093–1096; 1979. Soviet Math. Dokl. 20 191–194.)—or, more precisely, that followed the article “A Soviet discovery rocks world of mathematics” on the front page of the New York Times for November 7, 1979; 41 of the 44 post-Khachian papers I have seen are dated November, 1979 or later. (They are listed and briefly annotated in the bibliography (Wolfe, P. 1980. A bibliography for the ellipsoid algorithm. (29 April) 6.), along with relevant background items and some 30 press reports, etc.) The present note, portions of which are taken from an article to appear in the first issue of Optima, Newsletter of the Mathematical Programming Society, points to a few items of this considerably overlapping literature which may be of use to the curious reader.
An Evaluation of the Initial Year of Zero-Base Budgeting in the Federal Government
Authors: Sherlekar Virendra S. , Dean Burton V.
Published: November 2008

This paper presents a comprehensive evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the Zero-Base Budgeting (ZBB) process during the initial year of its implementation in the Federal Government. The evaluation includes ten Departments and six agencies of the Federal Government representing 74 percent of the total budget authority of 560 billion dollars. It is based on the information received in responses from federal agencies to the Office of Management and Budget Eleven major criteria were formulated for use in evaluating the applicability of the ZBB process and its performance in the individual agencies. A scoring model was used to determine the effectiveness of the ZBB process within each agency, as well as across agencies.

ZBB was perceived by federal agencies as an effective tool for use in the allocation of limited resources. The following aspects of ZBB were ranked in the order in which they yield the greatest benefits in producing effective budgets: (a) priority ranking of agency programs, (b) participation of management in decisionmaking, and (c) conducting trade-offs within and across programs. In most cases, the increased participation (extent and quality) resulted in the establishment of a close link with top management and an enhanced understanding of organizational objectives, priorities, and resource allocations to various programs. The use of ZBB was not intended to and did not, in fact, produce significant tangible cost savings in federal agency 1979 budgets, but did result in reallocations of resources to activities with higher priority. Most federal agencies believed that the use of ZBB required excessive expenditures of time and effort.

The agencies felt that ZBB was not particularly applicable to “uncontrollable” programs and hence the time and effort spent on using ZBB in these decision units was not beneficial. The agencies faced problems in developing “minimum level” packages which represent lowest level budgets for the organizational units. Most agencies used an arbitrary percentage reduction from the existing level to force uniformity across all decision units. Use of a predefined “minimum level” may have precluded a zero-base analysis of the decision units which is the major cornerstone of ZBB. Priority ranking of decision packages at the subordinate management level was usually carried out by managers using their own independent judgments. At the top agency level, most agencies used formal ranking procedures and collegial panels to produce the initial ranking of agency-wide decision packages. The difficulties agencies faced in determining priorities of the decision packages included ranking those functions/activities that were dissimilar and/or interrelated and considering those activities not having measurable outputs or distinct workload measures.
Finding All Solutions for a Class of Parametric Quadratic Integer Programming Problems
Authors: McBride R. D. , Yormark J. S.
Published: November 2008

We describe a practical procedure for finding all solutions to a parametric family of nonseparable quadratic integer programs that differ in their resource availabilities. We outline a new method for optimizing these quadratic integer programs, and demonstrate how to solve a sequence of such problems parametrized against the right-hand-side of a single constraint. Several methods for accelerating the basic procedure are presented, and computational experience is provided.
Optimal Sizing of Records Used to Store Messages of Various Lengths
Authors: Erickson Ranel E. , Luss Hanan
Published: November 2008

In many computer applications messages of various lengths need to be stored in some storage device. In this paper we examine the problem in which a fixed number of record lengths can be used to store messages. Whenever a message arrives, it is stored in the smallest possible record which is at least as large as the message. If a message cannot be stored in any single record, it is divided into segments and stored in several records of the same length. Each record is accompanied by a header which contains overhead information. Furthermore, in some applications records of the same length are stored in larger units, called blocks. If so, some space may be wasted at the end of a block. The objective is to find the optimal record lengths so that the expected total space used to store a message is minimized A dynamic programming algorithm that finds the optimal record lengths is developed for a general message length distribution. Numerical examples are discussed.
An Activity Analysis Approach to Unit Costing with Multiple Interactive Products
Authors: Itami Hiroyuki , Kaplan Robert S.
Published: November 2008

Average variable costs are not directly defined for multiple products produced in complex production settings. An activity analysis model can be used for basic cost measurement and for building a linear programming model of manufacturing operations. The model can then be used not only to compute the optimal production plan and associated marginal costs but also to assign average costs to final products. The activity analysis framework enables many overhead costs, such as maintenance, overtime, shift premiums, and indirect labor and materials, to be treated within the model. Thus, they are absorbed directly into the cost of final products rather than allocated indirectly through an overhead charge.

Three average costing methods based on sacrifice value (marginal costs) and benefit value (marginal revenue) of products are considered. The method based entirely on the market value of products has less desirable properties than allocation methods which use the dual variables (marginal costs) from the programming model. Another benefit is that various cost allocation methods using input-output analysis can be considered as special cases of average costing methods presented in this paper.
Review of Data Related to Energy Use in Residential and Commercial Buildings
Authors: Hirst Eric
Published: November 2008

This paper reviews data dealing with energy use in residential and commercial buildings and their determinants. Three types of data are discussed: data prepared by and for the federal government on overall trends in buildings energy use, data prepared by and for the federal government related to the details of energy use, and data collected at the state and utility level.

The major conclusion from this review is that existing national data sources are inadequate for answering the kinds of questions being raised on buildings energy use and conservation. These questions concern overall trends, recent changes, determinants of changes, roles of the private sector and government intervention in implementing conservation measures, and the effectiveness of different kinds of government programs.

Relevant data are being collected by many state energy offices and by gas and electric utilities. However, the existence of these potentially-useful subnational data sources is not widely known.
Multiple-Object, Discriminatory Auctions with Bidding Constraints: A Game-Theoretic Analysis
Authors: Palfrey Thomas R.
Published: November 2008

This paper examines the existence and characterization of pure strategy Nash equilibria in multiple-object auction games in which buyers face a binding constraint on exposure. There are five major results. First, symmetric Nash equilibria exist if and only if there are two or less buyers and two or less items. Second, a Nash equilibrium may not exist if the seller sets a positive reservation bid. Third, asymmetric solutions to symmetrically parameterized games typically involve “high-low” strategies: each buyer submits positive bids only on some restricted subset of the items. Fourth, Nash equilibria typically generate zero “surplus” to the buyers. Fifth, when asymmetric solutions exist and the buyers are identical, these solutions are never unique.
Note—On the Marginal Benefit of Adding Servers to G/GI/m Queues
Authors: Weber Richard R.
Published: November 2008

The mean queueing time in a G/GI/m queue is shown to be a nonincreasing and convex function of the number of servers, m. This means that the marginal decrease in mean queueing time brought about by the addition of two extra servers is always less than twice the decrease brought about by the addition of one extra server. As a consequence, a method of marginal analysis is optimal for allocating a number of servers amongst several service facilities so as to minimize the sum of die mean queueing times at the facilities.
The Lagrangian Relaxation Method for Solving Integer Programming Problems
Authors: Fisher Marshall L.
Published: November 2008

One of the most computationally useful ideas of the 1970s is the observation that many hard integer programming problems can be viewed as easy problems complicated by a relatively small set of side constraints. Dualizing the side constraints produces a Lagrangian problem that is easy to solve and whose optimal value is a lower bound (for minimization problems) on the optimal value of the original problem. The Lagrangian problem can thus be used in place of a linear programming relaxation to provide bounds in a branch and bound algorithm. This approach has led to dramatically improved algorithms for a number of important problems in the areas of routing, location, scheduling, assignment and set covering. This paper is a review of Lagrangian relaxation based on what has been learned in the last decade.
Real-Time Dispatch of Petroleum Tank Trucks
Authors: Brown Gerald G. , Graves Glenn W.
Published: November 2008

A highly automated, real-time dispatch system is described which uses embedded optimization routines to replace extensive manual operations and to reduce substantially operating costs for a nation-wide fleet of petroleum tank trucks. The system is currently used in daily operations by the Order Entry and Dispatch segment of the Chevron U.S.A. Marketing System. Refined petroleum products valued at several billion dollars per year are dispatched from more than 80 bulk terminals on a fleet exceeding 300 vehicles in approximately 2600 loads per day. Centralized use of the dispatch system required its design and implementation as a set of transaction modules within a large management information system. This environment presents special challenges for the optimization methods; an heuristic sequential network assignment was developed for certified performance on these dispatch models in lieu of their solution as integer programs. Objectives include minimizing transportation costs (approaching $100 million annually) while maintaining equitable man and equipment workload distribution, safety standards, and customer service, and satisfying equipment compatibility restrictions.
The Value of Decision Making in a Complex Environment: An Experimental Approach
Authors: Hogarth Robin M. , Makridakis Spyros
Published: November 2008

Are the costs of time and effort spent on analyzing decisions outweighed by benefits? This issue was examined in the context of a competitive business game where human teams were pitted against two kinds of simple-minded arbitrary decision rules: one where rules were applied consistently (“arbitrary-consistent”); the other where rules were subject to a random component (“arbitrary-random”). The arbitrary-consistent rules outperformed, on average, 41% of human opponents, the corresponding figure for arbitrary-random being 19%. These results are discussed within the more general context of consistency in decision making which has received considerable attention in both the management and psychological literatures, albeit in the more restricted case of non-competitive and stable environments. Issues raised by the study include the use of automated and controlled baseline strategies to study decision making in complex situations, the need to develop normative guidelines for use in turbulent, competitive environments, and the multidimensional nature of the functions of decision making in organizations.
Recent Developments in Management Science in Banking
Authors: Cohen Kalman J. , Maier Steven F. , Vander Weide James H.
Published: November 2008

Banking has been a fertile area for management science applications, as is evident from the review provided in this paper. The relevant management science models are discussed in terms of the areas of bank management for which they were intended. Under dynamic balance sheet management (i.e., internal bank financial planning) we consider forecasting techniques, simulation models and optimization models. Other areas of banking included are bond portfolio management, bank operations, corporate services, bank marketing and management of the loan portfolio. The authors provide an evaluation of the applicability of management science models in practice, discuss the extent to which some have been implemented and consider the philosophy of using management science models in banking.
Inverse Optimization: An Application to the Capacitated Plant Location Problem
Authors: Bitran Gabriel R. , Chandru Vijaya , Sempolinski Dorothy E. , Shapiro Jeremy F.
Published: November 2008

Lagrangean techniques have had wide application to the optimization of discrete optimization problems. Inverse optimization refers to the fact that each time a Lagrangean calculation is made for a specific problem with a given resources vector, an optimal solution is obtained for a related problem with a suitably adjusted resources vector. This property is studied in depth for the capacitated plant location problem and new parametric methods for that problem are suggested. Computational experience is reported.
A Greedy Heuristic for Single Machine Sequencing with Precedence Constraints
Authors: Weiss Howard J.
Published: November 2008

We present a greedy heuristic for the n job/1 machine scheduling problem with precedence constraints. This method is useful whenever the manager's optimization criteria is the sum of weighted or unweighted completion times, the sum of weighted or unweighted flow times, (with or without release dates), the sum of weighted or unweighted working times, the sum of weighted or unweighted lateness, average completion time, average flow time, average waiting time or average lateness. The greedy heuristic found the optimal solution for 58 of 68 test problems for which a branch and bound method was used to find the optimal solution. The heuristic is, of course, much easier to implement (and executes in less time). The greedy heuristic fared well in comparison with a simple myopic heuristic presented by Morton and Dharan (Morton. T. E., B. G. Dharan. 1978. Algoristics for single machine sequencing with precedence constraints. Management Sci. 24 (10) 1011–1020.).
Risk Sharing and Group Decision Making
Authors: Eliashberg Jehoshua , Winkler Robert L.
Published: November 2008

In a decision-making problem where a group will receive an uncertain payoff which must be divided among the members of the group, the ultimate payoff of interest is the vector of individual payoffs received by the members of the group. In this paper, preferences are quantified in terms of cardinal utility functions for such vectors of payoffs. These utility functions can represent preferences concerning “equitable” and “inequitable” vectors of payoffs as well as attitudes toward risk. The individual utility functions are aggregated to form a group utility function for the vector of payoffs, and this latter function is, in turn, used to generate a group utility function for the overall group payoff and a sharing rule for dividing the group payoff into individual payoffs. The resulting group decisions are Pareto optimal in utility space. Properties of the sharing rule and the group utility function are investigated for additive and multilinear group utility functions.
Operating Characteristics of an Inventory System with Rationing
Authors: Nahmias Steven , Demmy W. Steven
Published: November 2008

This paper considers an inventory system which maintains stock to meet both high and low priority demands. This model is suggested by the operation of a spare parts pool in a military depot: high priority demands are those which might result in the grounding of an aircraft, for example, while low priority demands are those which arise from the routine restocking of base level inventories. We analyze the following type of control policy: there is a support level, say K > 0, such that when the level of on hand stock reaches K, all low priority demands are backordered while high priority demands continue to be filled. Both continuous review and periodic review systems are considered. The objective of the analysis is to develop methods for comparing fill rates when there is rationing and when there is no rationing for specified values of the reorder point, order quantity and support level.
Sources of Job Related Ambiguity and Their Consequences Upon Salespersons' Job Satisfaction and Performance
Authors: Behrman Douglas N. , Bigoness William J. , Perreault William D.
Published: November 2008

This study presents a conceptual model relating four sources of job related ambiguity and two individual difference variables (locus of control and need for clarity) to salesperson job satisfaction and job performance. Previous research related to the model is briefly reviewed. Then, drawing data from a multicompany sample of industrial salespersons and their managers, behavioral research methods are used to clarify the nature and strength of the relationships in the model. The analysis reveals that ambiguity concerning family expectations is positively related to performance, but ambiguity regarding sales manager and customer expectations is negatively related to performance. Lower levels of satisfaction are explained primarly by ambiguous managerial expectations. The individual difference variables are shown to be related to job outcomes even after adjusting for different levels of perceived ambiguity. The individual difference variables, however, do not moderate the relationships between sources of ambiguity and job outcomes.
Theme Appreciation as a Construct for Organizational Change
Authors: Keidel Robert W.
Published: November 2008

This paper develops an organizational change construct from the activities of the Jamestown (New York) Area Labor-Management Committee, a community-based program of labor-management cooperation. As part of this program, projects to increase productivity and to improve the quality of working life were undertaken by internal labor-management committees in ten factories over a four-year period. Although each organizational experience was episodic, these efforts collectively gave rise to community “themes”—such as skills development, gains-sharing, and layout redesign—which served to stimulate further organizational change, often in unanticipated ways. Diffusion typically was from part of one organization to part of another, rather than from a part, to the whole, of the same organization.

In effect, a community “theme-set” evolved out of many piecemeal organizational projects. The various themes then served to integrate the micro projects and the Area Committee's macro objectives. Singly and in combination, the eight themes comprising the set rendered general (community) objectives more concrete, and concrete (organizational) projects more general.

A two-phase change process is described, and a thematic reappreciation is made. The concept of theme developed in this paper then is considered in light of other, related concepts. Based on the timing of theme appearance and the degree of organizational appreciation, four theme subsets are distinguished. Development within each subset is elaborated, and the subsets are contrasted in terms of certain theme attributes. Four partial explanations are posited for general appreciation of themes: (1) community coherence, (2) organization-theme fit, (3) the existence of alternative participative options, and (4) the nature of the intervention process.

After subsequent developments in Jamestown are shown to support theme appreciation, the paper examines the relevance of theme appreciation to change within organizations—irrespective of links to a community program. Three issues are treated: (1) unit of analysis, (2) the role of non-participants in organizational change, and (3) organization-wide transformation. In each case, the potential value of theme-appreciation is suggested. The paper concludes by expressing some cautions about pseudo-appreciation of themes.
Contingencies for Interdisciplinary Research: Matching Research Questions with Research Organizations
Authors: Birnbaum Philip H.
Published: November 2008

The conditions under which interdisciplinary research helps improve research performance are explored in a heterogeneous sample of 67 ongoing academic interdisciplinary teams from the United States and Canada. We conclude that interdisciplinary research is more appropriate for very difficult research questions and at early stages of the research process. Interdisciplinary research was found to inhibit the outputs of articles, books, papers, and technical reports when the research had a clearly identified client prior to the start of the project. Interdisciplinary research was not found to be more helpful for either applied or pure research. It was not found to be helpful either at the concluding stage of research or when used throughout the research process.
Managerial Strategic Behavior in State-Owned Enterprises—Business and Political Orientations
Authors: Zif Jehiel
Published: November 2008

Two different functions, managing the business in the product or service markets and managing public support in the political markets, must be performed by managers of state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Each organization has to strike a strategic balance between these two functions. The way this is done is indicative of the organizational orientation and behavior. The greater the relative emphasis on managing public support, the stronger is the political orientation in our terminology. The greater the relative emphasis on managing the business, the stronger is the business orientation.

This paper proposes that explanation of behavior of SOEs can be improved by taking into account the orientation of management toward the mix of business and politics. Although the combination of business and political goals of SOE has long been recognized, the mix of business and political activities as a strategic variable was rarely distinguished. This strategic variable is operationally defined, measured and explained.

An insight into the purposes of business and political activities is gained through an analysis of the external and internal orientation of management. The organization may concentrate internally, on its own needs and goals, or externally, on the needs and goals of the outside publics. This distinction can be useful in descriptive as well as normative research.

Management orientation, whether business or political, is associated with a specific set of behavioral tendencies or implications. These implications are expressed in propositions which state that an increase in the political and external orientation of management are related to an increased likelihood that: 1. Sales rather than profit goals would be emphasized. 2. Low prices relative to costs would be charged. 3. Goals would be relatively unstable. 4. Goals would be stated in unclear or vague terms. 5. Performance evaluation would be carried out on an irregular basis. 6. Public support would be sought prior to action. 7. Top management would be recruited from the public sector.

An exploratory survey of 50 executives of SOEs in fourteen Latin American, Asian and African countries was used to test the propositions. With few exceptions, the empirical results support the above propositions. Further research, which will include additional variables and a larger sample, can increase the reliability of the findings and improve our understanding of the factors which influence management orientation.
A Bi-Extremal Principle for Frontier Estimation and Efficiency Evaluations
Authors: Banker R. D. , Charnes A. , Cooper W. W. , Schinnar A. P.
Published: November 2008

A new approach is supplied for locating efficiency frontiers and evaluating the efficiency of Decision Making Units (DMU's). This is accomplished from observational data by means of an envelopment procedure called DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis) originally developed by Charnes, Cooper and Rhodes (Charnes, A., W. W. Cooper, E. Rhodes, 1978. Measuring the efficiency of decision making units. Eur. J. Oper. Res. 2 (6). See also, Short communication. Eur. J. Oper. Res. 3 (1979) 339.) in connection with their ratio formulation for relative efficiency measurement. The current variant employs a bi-extremal principle which, though nonlinear, is subsequently shown to be reducible to a finite sequence of linear programming problems. The development is illustrated by means of multiple output functions which are piecewise of Cobb-Douglas or general log linear type and which also allow for increasing, decreasing and constant returns to scale. More than one production function for the DMU's is also allowed. The reduction of the bi-extremal principle to linear programming equivalence is also accomplished for much more general classes of functions. A numerical example illustrates some of these ideas and also provides a springboard for a new theorem which relates these efficiency measures to ones which were supplied earlier in the Charnes, Cooper and Rhodes's work (Charnes, A., W. W. Cooper, E. Rhodes, 1978. Measuring the efficiency of decision making units. Eur. J. Oper. Res. 2 (6). See also, Short communication. Eur. J. Oper. Res. 3 (1979) 339.).
The Boundary Between Planning and Incremental Budgeting: Empirical Examination in a Publicly-Owned Corporation
Authors: Lioukas S. K. , Chambers D. J.
Published: November 2008

This paper is a study within the field of public budgeting. It focuses on the capital budget, and it attempts to model and analyze the capital budgeting process using a framework previously developed in the literature of incremental budgeting. Within this framework the paper seeks to determine empirically whether the movement of capital expenditure budgets can be represented as the routine application of incremental adjustments over an existing base of allocations and whether further, forward-looking adjustments can be found. Its setting is a British publicly-owned corporation.

The paper proposes an extended model of incremental budgeting which explains absolute change in budget allocations by introducing variables expressing: current expenditure outturn, over- or under-spend of previous allocations, previous budgetary cuts, and wider financial pressures in the corporation's environment. Planning variables are then included in an attempt to uncover purposive behavior. The analysis reveals different patterns of allocation for peripheral and for mainstream investments. The former appear to grow in an incremental fashion with no response to leading planning variables. The latter exhibit responsiveness to planning variables, and allocations do not take the form of routine incremental adjustments to the existing base. An interpretation of the results is undertaken. The analysis points to revisions of existing theory and suggests fresh ways of looking at, and systematically modeling, the organizational system of resource allocation.
Comparison among Certain Inspection Policies
Authors: Munford A. G.
Published: November 2008

Certain continuous production processes and early warning systems must be inspected in order to detect failures that would otherwise not be apparent. An optimal inspection policy is a sequence of inspection times which minimizes the average cost per inspection cycle relative to some cost model. Under both an existing cost model, and a new cost model proposed in this paper, the computation of such policies is difficult. Three sub-optimal inspection policies are proposed, each, like the optimal policy, having decreasing times between successive inspections when the time to system failure has increasing hazard rate.

Numerical comparisons are given for both cost models in the case of Weibull failure times.
A Theory of Optimal Agenda Design
Authors: McKelvey Richard D.
Published: November 2008

This paper formalizes the problem of designing optimal agendas for voting over finite alternative spaces, when voters are assumed to be “naive,” (i.e., they do not vote strategically). The class of agendas considered here is quite broad, and includes, as special cases, such methods as pairwise voting, sequential and elimination procedures, partitioning schemes, and all binary procedures. Given individual preferences over the basic alternative space, and various assumptions about how individuals choose between subsets of alternatives, one can then formalize the problem of designing agendas as a dynamic programming problem and solve for optimal agendas, i.e., agendas having either the highest probability of leading to a given alternative or having the highest expected utility to the agenda setter. Illustrations are given showing how the methods can be applied in specific examples.
Heuristic Techniques for Simultaneous Scheduling of Production and Distribution in Multi-Echelon Structures: Theory and Empirical Comparisons
Authors: Williams Jack F.
Published: November 2008

Seven heuristic algorithms are discussed. Each can be used for production scheduling in an assembly network (a network where each work station has at most one immediate successor work station, but may have any number of immediate predecessor work stations), distribution scheduling in an arborescence network (a network where each warehouse or stocking point is supplied by at most one immediate predecessor stocking point, but may itself supply any number of immediate successor stocking points), and joint production-distribution scheduling in a conjoined assembly-arborescence network. The objective of each algorithm is to determine a production and/or product distribution schedule which satisfies final product demand and minimizes the sum of the average inventory holding costs and average fixed charges for processing (ordering, delivery, or setup costs), per period, over an infinite planning horizon. Exogenous demand for product is assumed to be deterministic, at a constant rate, and to occur only at “retail” facilities of the networks. On the basis of their performance in 11,000 computer generated problems, the seven heuristic methods are compared with each other and with a dynamic programming algorithm. The results indicate that for most of the network structures considered, the best heuristic is the method of steepest descent; the second best is a simple extension of a method originally developed by Crowston, Wagner, and Henshaw. The improved myopic procedure of Graves and Schwarz performs very well for some particular types of structures. Surprisingly, two particularly naive heuristics also perform quite well in certain situations. In addition to the computer simulation experiments, we also discuss a simple computer-compatible algebraic notation scheme for identifying structure (facility interrelationships) within networks of the three types considered.
Early Diagnosis of MIS Implementation Failure: Promising Results and Unanswered Questions
Authors: Ginzberg Michael J.
Published: November 2008

Much of the research on MIS implementation which has been conducted in the past decade has focused on identifying and measuring the organizational characteristics which appear to be particularly conducive to either success or failure of system development efforts. While such research is useful in providing insight about the implementation problem, it provides little guidance for the management of ongoing implementation efforts. The study described in this paper attempts to address the implementation management question by exploring the use of MIS users' pre-implementation expectations about a system as indicators of the likely success of that system.

System development efforts can be viewed as multi-stage processes. During the first of the stages, Definition, most of the key decisions about the system as the user will see it are made, e.g., system goals, scope, overall approach. The Definition stage, however, typically accounts for no more than 25% of the resources required for system development. Thus, the decisions which will have the greatest effect on the users' acceptance or rejection of a system are made prior to the bulk of spending on the project, and an assessment of the project's probability of success or failure should be possible at that time.

The results of a number of implementation studies suggest that implementation failure is more likely when users hold unrealistic expectations about a system. Research in other areas, especially product evaluation and job satisfaction, also shows a connection between realism of expectations and outcomes (e.g., satisfaction). Thus, user expectations held at the end of the Definition stage might serve as early warning indicators of MIS implementation outcomes. If these expectations prove to be reliable indicators of subsequent success or failure, it would enable system developers to diagnose likely problems and to take corrective action at an early project stage.

This paper reports on a longitudinal study of user expectations as predictors of project success or failure. The results strongly suggest that users who hold realistic expectations prior to implementation are more satisfied with the system and use it more than users whose pre-implementation expectations are unrealistic. While the results are encouraging, further research is necessary in a number of areas—e.g., better definition of key expectations, simpler tools for measuring expectations, proper timing of expectations measurement—before reliable instruments for measuring expectations in ongoing projects will be available. The paper outlines, however, some steps which can be taken now to help assure that potential system users develop realistic expectations.
Policy Analyses for an Infant Technology: Hot Dry Rock Geothermal Resources
Authors: Cummings Ronald , Morris Glenn , Paik Inja
Published: November 2008

This paper demonstrates the potential role of policy and management analyses at early stages of technology development as exemplified by the case of hot, dry rock (HDR) geothermal energy resources used for electricity generation. Management issues concerning initial drilling depths, power plant design, redrilling strategies and periodic choices for well-flow rates are analyzed as they relate to R and D policies concerning first, the staging of R and D within the HDR R and D program and, second, priorities for the HDR research program relative to other R and D programs. Results reported here suggest that commercially attractive HDR systems do not require the development of new, very high temperature drilling technology (>275°C). Priorities for research concerning reservoir renewal and completion methods and baseload dimensions of an HDR system are emphasized. The desirability of periodic variations in well-flow rates as a means to reduce reservoir cooling is shown to be questionable. The commercial potential of HDR-produced electricity is assessed using calculations of the busbar cost of electricity from optimally-managed HDR geothermal systems. Busbar costs for a plausible set of base case conditions were found to vary between 26–76 mills kWh (1978 dollars) as geothermal gradients varied between 30–60°C per kilometer of vertical depth. Commercial feasibility for HDR-produced electricity then involves a comparison of these costs with one's expectations for future busbar costs for electricity produced with other fuel sources.
Minimizing Makespan with Bimodal Processing Time Distributions
Authors: Pinedo Michael
Published: November 2008

We consider the problem of scheduling n tasks on two identical parallel processors. Task i has a processing time of one time unit, but might have to undergo processing for a second time unit with probability pi, i.e., the processing time distributions of the tasks have mass only on one and on two. We are interested in the sequence in which to process these tasks in order to minimize the expected completion time of all tasks. The optimal sequence turns out to be a sequence not well-known in the theory of scheduling.
On the Estimation of Bid Distributions in Real Estate Markets
Authors: Tryfos Peter
Published: November 2008

The price at which a real property is sold depends on the initial asking price, the distribution of potential bids for the property by interested buyers, the quality and intensity of the advertising message, and the manner in which the initial asking price is revised if the property is not immediately sold.

The model of real estate transactions developed in this paper shows that—contrary perhaps to current views—there is no simple relationship between selling prices and the distribution of potential bids. However, under certain conditions, estimates of the distribution of potential bids for any property can be obtained on the basis of a sample of past transactions, recording the asking price, selling price, and the physical characteristics of the properties sold.
The Sampling Relationship Between Sharpe's Performance Measure and its Risk Proxy: Sample Size, Investment Horizon and Market Conditions
Authors: Chen Son-Nan , Lee Cheng F.
Published: November 2008

Sharpe's, Treynor's and Jensen's measures have been extensively used for the performance evaluation of mutual funds or portfolios. These three widely used performance measures have been found to be highly correlated with their corresponding risk measures by a number of empirical studies. This paper focuses the investigation on the possible sources of the bias associated with the empirical relationship between the estimated Sharpe's measure and its estimated risk measure. In general, the sample size, the investment horizon and the market conditions are three important factors in determining the strong relationship between the ex-post Sharpe's measure and its estimated risk surrogate.

The interesting findings of this study are as follows: (1) the estimated Sharpe's measure is uncorrelated with the estimated risk measure either when the risk free rate of interest equals the expected return on the market portfolio over the sample period or when the sample size is infinite, (2) the estimated Sharpe's measure is positively (or negatively) correlated with the estimated risk measure if the risk-free rate of interest is greater than (or less than) the expected return on the market portfolio, (3) an observation horizon shorter than the true investment horizon can reduce the dependence of the estimated Sharpe's measure on its estimated risk measure, and (4) an observation horizon longer than the true investment horizon will magnify the dependence. The results have indicated that, in conducting empirical research, a shorter observation horizon and a large sample size should be used to reduce the bias associated with the estimated Sharpe's measure.