bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Logic of Propagation Strategies: Axiomatizing a Fragment of Organizational Ecology in First-Order Logic
Authors: Péli Gábor , Masuch Michael
Published: October 2008

As a part of a larger effort to apply formal logic to organization science, we axiomatize the theory of propagation strategies (life history strategies) of Organization Ecology. We provide an axiomatic system in first-order logic that derives the theory's predictions as theorems from a set of underlying assumptions. First-order logic is widely seen as a standard language for the formalization of scientific theories; it couples considerable expressive power with acceptable computational properties. Our axiomatization increases the understanding on the scope and the limits of Organization Ecology, and yields a consistent theory of propagation strategies with a sound explanatory structure.
Turbulence in Organizations: New Metaphors for Organizational Research
Authors: Polley Douglas
Published: October 2008

Nonlinear dynamics provides two metaphors for organizational dynamics, bifurcation, and mathematical chaos. These metaphors make possible distinct observations about turbulent organizational processes that have previously been described as “chaotic.” Careful distinction between the metaphors affords additional insight into organizational processes and can aid theory development. The metaphors are integrated into organizational process research through application to two current process theory taxonomies. New research directions in managing turbulence and constructing process models are suggested.
Mixed Mode Network Structures: The Strategic Use of Electronic Communication by Organizations
Authors: Holland Christopher P. , Lockett A. Geoffrey
Published: October 2008

The impact of interorganizational systems (IOSs) on the structure of market networks is analyzed from a management perspective. A research framework is applied to various organizational settings, yielding a range of mixed mode forms in which elements of both market and hierarchy are evident. These forms are more complex than the simple network or hybrid structures postulated in the management and information systems literature. The framework represents a departure from electronic markets theory, questioning its basic predictions that as companies trade electronically there will be proportionately more markets than hierarchies. Instead, IOSs make possible relationships that combine market and hierarchy elements simultaneously. Although economic forces are driving the changes in network structure, economic variables are tempered by individual firm strategies reflecting investment, network structure and IOS choices. The implications for theory are that traditional analyses of network structures and competition in business markets do not describe or explain adequately the structure and dynamics of competition in an electronic trading environment. The implications for managers are that they should consider the effects of mixed mode network structures on their processes for forming and managing business relationships supported by IOSs. The contribution of the paper is to provide a more accurate model of competition in business markets by demonstrating that multiple forms of mixed mode network structures exist. The mixed mode proposition is illustrated with case data from a range of mixed mode network structures.
Diffusion of Innovations Within Organizations: Electronic Switching in the Bell System, 1971–1982
Authors: Cool Karel O. , Dierickx Ingemar , Szulanski Gabriel
Published: October 2008

Although diffusion processes take place in a variety of social systems, they have rarely been studied within the context of an organization. Yet when the intraorganizational part of the diffusion of an innovation is gradual or differs among organizations, the overall diffusion of that innovation is affected.

The authors explore the applicability of the traditional diffusion perspective in an intraorganizational context. They compare the explanatory power of factors emphasized by the traditional diffusion perspective with that of factors deemphasized or neglected by that perspective. The setting is the diffusion of electronic switching technology within the operating companies of the Bell System before its divestiture. The results suggest that the traditional perspective may not apply exactly within organizations because factors other than those traditionally emphasized seem to play an important role in the diffusion of innovations within organizations.
Engineering Identity in a Japanese Factory
Authors: Kilduff Martin , Funk Jeffrey L. , Mehra Ajay
Published: October 2008

Based on 11 months of participation in a Japanese high-technology factory, our account follows the working lives of 11 engineers involved in the development, building, and servicing of wire bonding machines necessary for the production of semi-conductors. We examined how the technologies that structured time and space shaped the identities of the engineers. Despite crises of project development, the engineers sustained a group identity by participating in routines such as daily meetings, by the physical arrangement of the work site, and by team members' identification with the high-technology products they produced. In this system preoccupied with the construction of zero-defect machines, the engineers were vigilant in preventing the structures of work life from unraveling. We looked in detail at one project that linked wire bonder machines with other machines and found that problems with machines were related by the engineers to problems of group interaction. The engineers promoted an isomorphism between the structure of the group and the structure of technological design: the group was mirrored in the high technology it produced.
Holding Distribution Channel Relationships Together: The Role of Transaction-Specific Assets and Length of Prior Relationship
Authors: Weiss Allen M. , Kurland Nancy
Published: October 2008

The authors investigate the effect of managers' perceptions of two types of transaction-specific investments on their intention to terminate a current interorganizational relationship: (1) the specific knowledge necessary for a manufacturer's representative (rep) to carry out the selling function for a given manufacturer and (2) the specific knowledge reps acquire about their own customer accounts. The extent to which the length of prior relationship strengthens or weakens the hypothesized linkages is also examined. The authors test the hypotheses within the context of distribution channels (i.e., between a manufacturer and its selling agent), which are characteristic of many vertical organizational relationships. The results replicate in an additional setting some prior findings on the influence of transaction-specific investments between two parties directly involved in a relationship. The authors also find that specialized investments by a downstream partner (i.e., a manufacturer's rep) in relationships that are even farther downstream (i.e., customer accounts) can influence a manufacturer's intention to terminate the manufacturer-rep relationship. Moreover, the length of prior relationship between a manufacturer and its rep is shown to moderate this effect.
Partner Selection and Venturing Success: The Case of Joint Ventures with Firms in the People's Republic of China
Authors: Luo Yadong
Published: October 2008

It has been hypothesized in the international joint venture (IJV) literature that partner selection affects interpartner “fit” which in turn influences a synergistic effect on IJV performance. This study investigates the relationship between IJV success and the strategic and organizational traits of local partners. We address this issue in the context of an emerging economy (P.R. China). Newly emerging economies have in recent years become major hosts of direct investment by multinational corporations (MNCs) because these rapidly expanding economies, characterized by an exploding demand previously stifled by ideologically-based government intervention, provide tremendous opportunities which MNCs can preempt. MNCs in such economies, however, face the challenges of structural reform, weak market structure, poorly specified property rights, and institutional uncertainty. Right local partners can help MNCs boost market expansion, obtain insightful information, mitigate operational risks, and provide country-specific knowledge.

The analysis of the data obtained from China suggests that both strategic and organizational traits of local partners are significantly associated with some individual dimensions of IJV performance. Among strategic traits, absorptive capacity, product relatedness, and market power are favorable to IJVs' market and financial outcomes. Market power and experience significantly reduce IJVs' operational uncertainties. Of organizational traits, international experience and organizational collaboration are important for IJVs' not only profitability and stability but also local market expansion and export growth. Organizational form and size influence IJVs' local market performance.

The findings provided by this study can help MNCs determine what criteria they should use in opting for local partners and what criteria are vital to their goal accomplishment. Those investors seeking local market expansion should select those local partners that have rich market experience, superior market position, high absorptive capacity, and related product diversification with the IJVs. Those seeking profitability and stability should select local firms that have superior international experience, longer organizational collaboration, and greater market power. While MNCs should use appropriate strategic and organizational criteria to select local partners, the host government or local firms can try to make these traits available to attract more stable and profitable foreign direct investment.
Embedded Organizational Events: The Units of Process in Organization Science
Authors: Peterson Mark F.
Published: October 2008

Analyses of the events that occur in the context of organization process are rapidly advancing. Scholars holding otherwise disparate views share the sense that social actors, including organizations, attend to, interpret, and act upon events. Analyses of events are converging from two theoretical and methodological starting points. Analyses that emphasize human subjectivity and contextual specificity are seeking increased cross-situational learning. Nomothetic analyses are building on their strength in cross-situational learning by striving to represent the way subjects themselves construct events in relation to context. Rather than continuing to analyze classic organizational and environmental dimensions like formalization, general uncertainty, munificence, and stability, scholars are increasingly analyzing the qualities of events and the meanings they are given. They are treating events as elements that social actors abstract from social processes, and social actors as parties who interact to give events meaning. The present paper defines event analyzes its origins and current uses, and indicates how using and going beyond lessons from physics can promote organization studies. These lessons come from the analysis of physical events as particles in relation to waves, fields, and perspectives. The uniquely social element of potential takes us beyond the experience of physical science.
Averting Expected Challenges Through Anticipatory Impression Management: A Study of Hospital Billing
Authors: Elsbach Kimberly D. , Sutton Robert I. , Principe Kristine E.
Published: October 2008

Existing theory and research on organizational impression management focuses on how spokespersons use remedial tactics, following image-threatening events, to put their organization in the best possible light. By contrast, little theory or research has considered how organizations use impression management tactics to avert undesirable responses to upcoming events. This paper uses a qualitative and inductive study of billing procedures at three large hospitals to develop theory about how organization members use impression management tactics to fend off specific, expected challenges to organizational practices that are ambiguously negative. We found that hospitals use anticipatory impression management tactics to: (1) distract, diminish, or overwhelm patients' attention to hospital charges; and (2) to induce emotions that lead patients to simplify their information processing of those charges. Hospitals appear to use such anticipatory obfuscations both to fend off patients' initial challenges and to prevent their existing challenges from escalating. We discuss these findings in terms of their contributions to theories of symbolic management, social influence, and routine service encounters.
Reconceptualizing the Context-Design Issue for the Information Systems Function
Authors: Brown Carol V. , Magill Sharon L.
Published: October 2008

The authors develop theory for predicting the distribution of decision making between the corporate and business-unit levels of management for a subset of information systems (IS) resources referred to as systems development. Drawing on literature from the fields of MIS, strategic management, and organization theory, they first determine how potentially influential context factors are likely to affect the locus of the lead decision-making role from a multiple-contingencies perspective. Then they theorize how conflicting corporate and business-unit contingencies are likely to be resolved. They present a set of six propositions that predict a centralized, decentralized, or compromise design solution for a given business unit on the basis of (1) business-level strategy, (2) whether or not information technology (IT) plays a strategic role for the business unit, (3) the degree of line managers' IT knowledge at the business-unit level, and (4) the level at which opportunities for IT-related synergies across business units are being pursued at the corporate level.
Crossroads—Reconsidering the “Fact-Value Antinomy: A Comment on Eastman and Bailey (1997)”
Authors: Connell Ann F. , Nord Walter R.
Published: October 2008

Eastman and Bailey (this issue) positioned their paper as both an extension of and a challenge to Barley and Kunda (1992). In our view, it succeeds admirably as an extension: the two papers taken together benefit our field by calling attention both to the patters they reported and to the often neglected dynamics of the history of ideas in organization studies. However, we find Eastman and Bailey's challenge to Barley and Kunda, which entails the suggestion of an alternative hypothesis to theirs, to be less convincing.

We begin by attempting to synthesize the two papers. Next, since one of Eastman and Bailey's purposes was to inspire other students of organizations to mediate the seeming conflict between “fact” and “value,” we make some remarks toward that end. These remarks reframe the conflict so that it makes more sense to us, question the purpose of mediating the conflict and suggest further steps toward integrating information from the history of ideas and dealing with the conflict Eastman and Bailey address.
Crossroads—Mediation in Moderation
Authors: Bailey James R. , Eastman Wayne
Published: October 2008

In their thoughtful response, Connell and Nord (this issue) are positively (in the ordinary, not the “quicksand,” sense of the term!) Aristotelian in their search for a golden mean between extremes. Even where they were critical of our paper, the persuasive power of their gentle, reconciliatory eclecticism mostly left us nodding rather than shaking our heads. In particular, we appreciate their identification of what they call the “emancipatory interest” in our paper, and their support for the more normatively oriented scholarship we advocate. Nevertheless, they spend so much time redefining terms and staking common ground that they did not address the validity—using whatever standards they wish to employ—of our central challenges to Barley and Kunda's account of theory development in management.
Professional Service Constellations: How Strategies and Capabilities Influence Collaborative Stability and Change
Authors: Jones Candace , Hesterly William S. , Fladmoe-Lindquist Karin , Borgatti Stephen P.
Published: October 2008

Constellations—alliances among multiple firms—are used to perform complex, customized work in professional service. We examine two tensions inherent in multi-party collaborative work: managing hybrid systems, which are composed of individual and group tasks and outcomes, and aligning partners' logics of action. These two tensions provide firms the strategic choice with emphasizing individual or collective advantage. When constellation members pursue an individualist strategy, they employ an entrepreneurial logic. Constellations are a vehicle for honing their firm-distinctive expertise and enhancing their own opportunities. Given these firms' need for exposure to new learning and new markets from different partners and clients, the stability of the constellation is not of primary importance. This strategy promotes membership shifts in constellations and requires governance mechanisms for coordinating interactions among relative strangers. When constellation members pursue a collectivist strategy, they focus on their mutual benefits and employ a relational logic. Given these firms' need for intensifying relations with partners and clients, constellation members restrict interactions to certain select partners and clients and intensify their interactions. This strategy promotes stability in constellation membership and allows governance mechanisms specific to partners to develop. Due to positive feedback, these strategies develop certain capabilities and create specific relational patterns, which reinforce prior choices.
Knowledge Management Processes and International Joint Ventures
Authors: Inkpen Andrew C. , Dinur Adva
Published: October 2008

The management and processing of organizational knowledge are increasingly being viewed as critical to organizational success. By exploring how firms access and exploit alliance-based knowledge, the authors provide evidence to support the argument that the firm is a dynamic system of processes involving different types of knowledge. Using data from a longitudinal study of North American-based joint ventures (JVs) between North American and Japanese firms, they address three related research questions: (1) what processes do JV partners use to gain access to alliance knowledge; (2) what types of knowledge are associated with the different processes and how should that knowledge be classified; and (3) what is the relationship between organizational levels, knowledge types, and the transfer of knowledge?

Although many generalizations have been drawn about the merits of knowledge-based resources and the creation of knowledge, few efforts have been made to establish systematically how firms acquire and manage new knowledge. Moreover, prior alliance research has not addressed in detail the nature of alliance knowledge and how knowledge is managed in the alliance context. The authors examine the processes used by alliance partners to transfer knowledge from an alliance context to a partner context. They identify four key processes—technology sharing, alliance-parent interaction, personnel transfers, and strategic integration—that share a conceptual underpinning and represent a knowledge connection between parent and alliance. Each of the four processes is shown to provide an avenue for managers to gain exposure to knowledge and ideas outside their traditional organizational boundaries and to create a connection for individual managers to communicate their alliance experiences to others.

Although all of the knowledge management processes are potentially effective, the different processes involve different types of knowledge and different organizational levels. The primary types of knowledge associated with each process are identified and then linked with the organizational level affected by the transfer process. From those linkages, several propositions about organizational knowledge transfer and management are developed. The results suggest that although a variety of knowledge management strategies can be viable, some strategies lead to more effective knowledge transfer than others.
Introduction—Jazz Improvisation as a Metaphor for Organization Theory
Authors: Lewin Arie Y.
Published: October 2008

The 1996 annual report of the LEGO Corporation featured the top management team decked out as a jazz ensemble with the CEO, Kjeld Møller Pedersen, playing the saxophone. The CEO of LEGO used the occasion to highlight his belief and expectation that improvisation is an art form that needs to become the hallmark of all levels of management, beginning at the top.
The Organization Science Jazz Festival: Improvisation as a Metaphor for Organizing—Overture
Authors: Meyer Alan , Frost Peter J. , Weick Karl E.
Published: October 2008

Introduction to a special issue of Organization Science. It is based on a rather unique event, a symposium, “Jazz as a Metaphor for Organizing in the 21st Century,” held at the 1995 Academy of Management National Conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Symposiums at academic conferences usually feature panelists presenting their views and discussants critiquing the presentations and providing some synthesis, followed by a brief dialogue with the audience. This session on jazz improvisation and organizing included conventional scholarly presentations, but added a demonstration and discussion of jazz improvisation by panelists who were professional musicians, followed by a concert and social event during which these musicians regaled the audience with superb jazz.
Minimal Structures Within a Song: An Analysis of “All of Me”
Authors: Barrett Frank J. , Peplowski Ken
Published: October 2008

Conversation between Ken Peplowski, who received the most prestigious European award for a jazz recording (Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, February 1993), and Frank Barrett about the structure of jazz. Jazz improvisation involves creating music on the spot without a prescripted score or plan. However, jazz is guided by a non-negotiable framework that constrains what the soloist can play. This structure provides the necessary backdrop to coordinate action and organize choice of notes.
Organizing for Jazz
Authors: Pasmore William A.
Published: October 2008

Parallels between jazz performance and organization are given. In organizations, people need to understand what's happening in order to help their organization perform flexibly. The more they know about what the organization does—what it's up to, what's going on in the world, what the customer wants, what other people do, what shape the organization is in financially, what the possibilities are—the more they can take action freely without fear of causing problems for someone else. Developing this knowledge takes time, like practicing a musical instrument.
Antecedents and Consequences—Organizing for Improvisation: The Backstage Story of the Vancouver Jazz Concert and Symposium
Authors: Meyer Alan
Published: October 2008

Overview of the process of organizing the Vancouver Jazz Concert and Symposium.
Improvisation in Action
Authors: Crossan Mary M.
Published: October 2008

It has often been proposed, or assumed, that improvisation is a useful metaphor to provide insight into managing and organizing. However, improvisation is more than a metaphor. It is an orientation and a technique to enhance the strategic renewal of an organization. The bridge between theory and practice is made through exercises used to develop the capacity to improvise, borrowed from theatre improvisation. This paper describes a typical improvisation workshop in developing six key areas that link improvisation exercises to the practice of management: interpreting the environment; crafting strategy; cultivating leadership; fostering teamwork; developing individual skills; and assessing organizational culture.
Entrepreneurial Resources, Organizational Choices, and Competitive Outcomes
Authors: Mosakowski Elaine
Published: October 2008

This paper examines the link between a firm's resources and its efficient organization form with a focus on entrepreneurial resources. Entrepreneurial resources are defined as the propensity of an individual to behave creatively, act with foresight, use intuition, and be alert to new opportunities. This paper assumes that these entrepreneurial resources can be distributed in two ways throughout the firm: they can be held by one or a few individuals—“individual entrepreneurial resources”—or they can be dispersed among a team of individuals—“team entrepreneurial resources.” Agency theory is used to consider how various organizational characteristics—such as the assignment of decision responsibilities, incentives and risk bearing, the number of hierarchical levels, horizontal linking structures, mutual monitoring and bonding devices, and information systems—will differ in the individual and team entrepreneurial forms. Generally, the individual entrepreneurial form resembles the “classic entrepreneurial firm” (Fama and Jensen 1983) in which various decision making roles and risk bearing are performed by a single entrepreneur. The team entrepreneurial form is similar to what Bartlett and Ghoshal (1993) call “beyond the m-form.” Responsibility for steps in the decision process is dispersed in the team form, and monitoring the decision process will occur at the organization's apex. The CEO will not make operational or strategic decisions; instead, he manages the internal market for managers and develops an organization's cultural context and information systems. Below the CEO level, team entrepreneurs are responsible for ratifying innovative decisions, and below this team entrepreneurs are responsible for initiating innovative decisions. After presenting these two entrepreneurial forms, this paper relates them to extant research on corporate entrepreneurship and organizational forms.
Adapting to Unfamiliar Environmental Events: A Look at the Evolution of Interpretation and Its Role in Strategic Change
Authors: Barr Pamela S.
Published: October 2008

This paper argues that a key component in a firm's strategic response to unfamiliar environmental events is the interpretations managers develop about the event itself and about key dimensions of their strategy. Using historical data from the pharmaceutical industry, the revealed interpretations of top management from six firms over a ten-year period are analyzed and are compared to the timing and content of the changes in strategy each firm undertook following a significant change in regulation. The results reveal two distinct patterns of interpretation development that appear to be linked to whether or not the target of interpretation is familiar. Further, interpretations appear to be linked both temporally and in terms of content to the strategic change undertaken by each firm. Both sets of results suggest that the interpretations of managers are linked to organizational actions.
Managing Mergers Across Borders: A Two-Nation Exploration of a Nationally Bound Administrative Heritage
Authors: Lubatkin Michael , Calori Roland , Very Philippe , Veiga John F.
Published: October 2008

Top managers of British and French firms, which were recently acquired by either British or French firms, were surveyed as to their perceptions of the administrative approach—reflected in integrating mechanisms—used by the acquiring firms to establish headquarters-subsidiary control. Four types of integrative mechanisms were examined: structural, systems, social, and managerial. A multiple analysis of covariance model, coupled with a two-nation (British and French), two-merger type (domestic, cross-national) sampling design, found evidence that the administrative approaches used by managers during merger integration from two nations partially reflect their different heritages, and that these differences are consistent with national differences and the theoretical perspectives of institutional development and cross-cultural studies. Our findings, while exploratory, provide insight into the administrative difficulties of managing across borders and help us understand why many cross-national firms continue to use ethnocentric approaches in spite of the incentives for adopting a transnational approach. Moreover, our findings add one more voice to a growing chorus calling for a theory of the firm, as embedded, institutionally, culturally, and historically.
Organizational Capabilities in Product Development of Japanese Firms: A Conceptual Framework and Empirical Findings
Authors: Kusunoki Ken , Nonaka Ikujiro , Nagata Akiya
Published: October 2008

Using a large-scale data set on product development organizations of Japanese manufacturing firms, this paper explores the effects of organizational capabilities on product development performance. We present a conceptual framework assuming that organizational capabilities consist of multilayered knowledge. Based on the idea, we classify organizational capabilities into “local,” “architectural,” and “process” capabilities along two dimensions: modularity and designability. The empirical analysis demonstrates differential effects of different types of organizational capabilities on different types of product development performance, and compares the differential effects between two types of industries that differ in terms of their product characteristics: system based and material based. The central message from our analysis is that the process capabilities emerging from dynamic interaction of knowledge play a crucial role as core capabilities for product development of Japanese firms in the system-based industries in which Japanese firms are relatively competitive. In the material industries, however, local capabilities have major effects on performance while effects of process capabilities are limited, which underlies the relative weakness of Japanese firms in developing material-based products. Our results raise some intriguing implications on the competitive advantages and challenges of Japanese firms' product development.
Crossroads—For the Common Good? New Zealanders Comply with Quality Standards
Authors: Humphries Maria
Published: October 2008

The heralding of improved economic indicators has generated worldwide interest in New Zealand's economic experiment despite the growing concern about the social repercussions of such rapid economic liberalisation. This paper argues that the compliance of New Zealanders to this economic experiment was achieved through the simultaneous development of a discourse of economic liberalism and a discourse of “the management of quality” and the subsequent cooption of the latter by the former. As an experiment for potential global emulation, this paper cautions those who pin their hopes for social justice on a common commitment to increasing productivity in the context of neoconservative economic policy preferences.
Computation of an Optimal Control for a Signalized Traffic Intersection
Authors: Martin-Löf Anders
Published: October 2008

A model of a signalized intersection is described in which the development of the queues in time is described by a controlled Markov chain with the state of the light as the control variable. By the method of dynamic programming it is possible to compute a control minimizing the expected value of a suitable cost function. This control becomes a function of the queue lengths. The result of the computation for a model example is presented.
Traffic Delay at a Signalized Intersection with Binomial Arrivals
Authors: Dunne Michael C.
Published: October 2008

Delay formulas are derived for vehicles at an isolated intersection at which the vehicle arrivals are supposed generated by a binomial process, the departure rates are assumed constant, and the control strategy is to switch the lights when the favored queue empties. The mean delay is calculated using a discrete analog of the method used by Darroch, Morris, and Newell for the case of random arrivals. Later a probability generating function for delay is developed yielding, in particular, the variance of the delay.
Australian Conference on Road Research
Authors: Miller Alan
Published: October 2008

The Third Biennial Conference of the Australian Road Research Board was held in Sydney from September 5 to 9, 1966. The conference, the largest held so far with nearly 500 delegates, was opened by Mr. R. W. Askin, Premier of the host state, New South Wales. It is the practice of the A.R.R.B. to invite a distinguished visitor from overseas to give the opening address. At the previous conference (in Melbourne) Sir William Glanville reported on road research in Britain and it was fitting that Mr. Grant Mickle was present at this conference to review past and present road research in the U.S.A. Of the 21 technical sessions, 9 were devoted to traffic or transport research. Eight of these sessions are reviewed here; the ninth session was a joint meeting with the Australian Institution of Engineers at which Dr. R. Herman presented an extremely entertaining review of the research work carried out by his team at the General Motors Research Laboratories.
Books of Interest
Authors: Weiss George H.
Published: October 2008

Review of books: (1) The Theory of Road Traffic Flow by Winifred D. Ashton, John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1966, 178 pages, $5.00; (2) Vehicular Traffic Science, American Elsevier Publishing Company, Inc., New York, 1967, 373 pages, $16.00.
Allocations of Servicing Periods That Minimize Average Delay for N Time-Shared Traffic Streams
Authors: Rangarajan R. , Oliver R. M.
Published: October 2008

In this paper the authors find the optimal allocation of servicing periods to a facility servicing N incoming traffic streams. In our model it is assumed that stream flows are deterministic, that there is a fixed amount of time lost, τi, when the server switches attention from the ith to the i + 1st stream and that the objective is to minimize time average delay.
The Synchronization of Traffic Signals for Minimum Delay
Authors: Hillier John A. , Rothery Richard
Published: October 2008

In order to ascertain whether neighboring intersections can be effectively coupled on the basis of traffic behavior, observational information on vehicular platoons was collected at four sites in London, England. This information is analyzed with particular emphasis on the phasing or synchronization of neighboring intersections for minimum delay. At each of the four sites studied, arrival time data was collected at four positions downstream from the signalized intersection from which the vehicular platoons were emerging. This data gives a measure of how platoons diffuse as they move from one intersection to the next. The analysis indicates that the diffusion process can be taken into account in the setting of signals. In particular, total delay in vehicle-hours per hour of green as a function of offset time is calculated, and in turn, the optimal offset time that would minimize delay is shown to be a linear function of the distance from the issuing traffic signal.
Stochastic Properties of Peak Short-Time Traffic Counts
Authors: Newell Gordon F.
Published: October 2008

Traffic flow past a point varies with time owing partly to statistical fluctuations and partly to a variation in the mean. Highway traffic surveys frequently include as a measure of this variation, peak short-time flows (1-, 5-, or 15-min flows) during a longer time (15, 30, or 60 min). Near the peak of the rush hour, the expected flow should be nearly stationary and variation in short-time flows should be due mostly to statistical fluctuations. This paper describes methods for estimation of these peak flows under the assumption that the short-time flows are approximately a stationary Gaussian process with a variance-to-mean ratio of about 1. The theory suggests that one can predict the distribution of peak short-time flows (5-min flows, for example) from the peak long-time flows (15 or 30 min flows). Experimental data seem to confirm this. The implication is that these short-time peaks have no obvious relation to highway capacity beyond that already inferred from the longer-time flows.
Significance Test for Accident Reductions Based on Classical Statistics and Economic Consequences
Authors: Dietz Stephen K.
Published: October 2008

This paper provides a simple test for the statistical significance of accident reductions. Such a test is applicable when some change has occurred at a highway location and we wish to know whether or not the difference between the number of accidents “before” and “after” represents a statistically significant reduction. In arriving at a decision based on random data we run the risk of occasionally (a) claiming a reduction in accidents when there is none (i.e., type I error), or (b) failing to claim a reduction when it exists (i.e., type II error). A decision procedure is proposed that considers these errors and their costs, and provides curves that indicate trade-offs in the probabilities of making each of the two types of error. Most of the statistical theory used in this paper is generally well known. However, the selection of significance levels based on economic considerations represents an improvement over the all too common practice of arbitrarily selecting significance levels for type I errors and ignoring type II errors altogether.
Optimal Priority Rating of Resources-Allocation by Dynamic Programming
Authors: Gulbrandsen Odd
Published: October 2008

This paper gives a description of how to find the “best” sequence of allocation of resources to projects. The method handles simultaneously a great number of projects. The expression “best” sequence means here the priority-rating that optimizes some chosen measure for the efficiency of the system. This optimization is done within the limits of the total resources available for allocation to projects. The problem is solved for whatever dependency there may be between resource quantity and system efficiency for the single projects. It works for the “difficult” case of discontinuous efficiency functions as well. It is shown that in order to handle a great number of projects, one can divide the projects into groups, apply the method within each group of projects, then consider each group as a super project, and finally solve the whole problem by using the same method on groups. The problem is solved by a combination of the dynamic programming method, Lagrange’s multiplier method, and numerical calculations on an electronic computer. The main part of the method is shown in a flow-diagram form. In the last sections of this paper practical examples are given, where the method is applied on investment problems.
A Transport Improvement Problem Transformable to a Best-Path Problem
Authors: Goldman A. J. , Nemhauser G. L.
Published: October 2008

For each arc (i, j) of a transport network, suppose given an initial traversal disutility d(i, j) and a function f(i, j, r) describing the reduced disutility that would result from applying r units of resources to “improve” the arc. For each origin-destination pair, there arises the problem of how a limited resource budget should be allocated among the arcs so as to optimize a best path from origin to destination in the improved network. It is shown here that this problem is transformable to a best-path problem in an enlarged network. The allowable investment levels in individual arcs can be constrained as desired.
An Optimization Model for Freeway Stationary Emergency Service Systems
Authors: Chow We-Min
Published: October 2008

This study is concerned with the analysis of a stationary emergency service system, and includes the application of this analytic procedure to the Los Angeles Freeway Surveillance and Control Project. The stationary emergency service system is interpreted as an ordinary queuing system and is approximated by an M/G/∞ model. In conjunction with queuing theory, dynamic programming is used to determine the best locations for service facilities, the optimal number of service vehicles at each service location, and the service area covered by an individual service location.
An Optimization Approach to Routing Aircraft
Authors: Richardson Robert
Published: October 2008

The optimal solution for an aircraft routing model is developed for use in the route construction process of an airline operating in long haul markets. The problem is to determine the sequence of stops for each aircraft from one base through a network of cities terminating at the original or second base. A mixed integer linear programming model is formulated to maximize the profit derived from each routing. The special structure of the mixed integer model is solved by an application of Benders’ Decomposition Method. Methods to improve the computational efficiency of the technique are examined and tested. Finally, an implementation plan for incorporating the routing model into the airline scheduling process is presented.
A Theory of Household Automobile Allocation Decisions
Authors: Heckmann Martin J. , Burns Lawrence D.
Published: October 2008

A theory of the decision-making behavior of urban households in allocating the use of their automobiles among essential travel purposes is developed. This theory begins to assess interdependence of household members with respect to their tripmaking behavior. The nature of trips to be made is predetermined by fixing the extent to which essential purposes must be served. Also, limits on household automobile availability and the importance of trip timing are recognized. Mathematical programs are developed based upon the assumption that households attempt to minimize travel costs (in terms of both time and money) required to achieve essential purposes subject to constraints on automobile availability.
A Model to Predict Benefits of Priority Lanes on Freeways
Authors: Posner Edward C.
Published: October 2008

An interactive computer-based model is described which permits a reasonable assessment of the decrease in the number of vehicle miles driven when one or several lanes of a freeway are devoted to the exclusive use of “carpools”: vehicles carrying at least a specified number of people. The vehicle miles driven are obtained by finding the equilibrium distribution of pool sizes as a function of distance driven, on both regular and priority lanes. A simple but believable economic model incorporating the cost of time and the “utility” of having a vehicle for one’s exclusive use is the basis for determining what individuals will do in their self-interest. The economic model is partly verified using existing pooling data without priority lanes. The idea of the priority lane or lanes is, of course, that they move faster than the regular lanes. However, an attractive feature of the priority lane concept is that, in typical cases, traffic flow is actually improved even for those who choose not to pool. Simple runs of the model show that in some cases it can be better for all concerned if two lanes are reserved for carpools rather than one lane, and if vehicles with two occupants are allowed to use the priority lanes rather than requiring three occupants. A 12.5-mi stretch of the Santa Monica Freeway in the Los Angeles area is used as a computational example for the theory. Further refinements to the model are suggested.
Multivariate Analysis of Traffic Factors Related to Fuel Consumption in Urban Driving
Authors: Evans Leonard , Herman Robert , Lam Tenny
Published: October 2008

The influence of various urban driving conditions on automobile fuel consumption was studied in an experiment involving 383 km of driving in the Detroit metropolitan area. The detailed speed, acceleration, and fuel consumption records were analyzed by multivariate statistical techniques. The objective of the study was to identify pertinent measures of traffic related speed-time characteristics that influence fuel consumption in urban driving. The results showed that average trip time per unit distance was the single most important factor in explaining the variability of fuel consumption. The results can be explained in terms of the physical properties of the engine-vehicle system and the interrelationships among the traffic related variables.
Errata
Authors: Gartner Nathan H. , Little John D. C. , Gabbay Henry
Published: October 2008

Corrections to Gartner, N. H. 1975. Optimization of traffic signal settings by mixed-integer linear programming, Part II: The network synchronization problem. Trans. Sci. 9 344–363.
Some Issues Relating to Metering or Closing of Freeway Ramps Part I. Control of a Single Ramp
Authors: Allen Brian L. , Newell Gordon F.
Published: October 2008

A hypothetical transportation corridor consists of two parallel routes. One route has properties typical of a congested freeway, the other is considered to be the composite of all alternative routes on city streets. Transfer between the two routes is permitted only at discrete points (entrance or exit ramps). At these points, various methods of traffic control are possible. It is postulated that the control objective is to minimize the total cost of travel to all trips, subject to the hypothesis that travelers choose the route of minimum personal cost. Emphasis is placed on two control methods; metering the flow at entrance ramps, or closing the ramps.

Two specific models are considered. In this study (Part I), backtracking is forbidden but the origin-destination characteristics are fairly general. In a second study (Part II), backtracking is permitted but the origin-destination characteristics have translational symmetry. In both cases it is found that, if the queuing costs are included in the total travel cost, ramp closure is often a more efficient method of control than ramp metering.
Reduction and Solution of Large Scale Vehicle Routing Problems
Authors: Orloff Clifford , Caprera David
Published: October 2008

This paper discusses the General Routing Problem approach to solving large scale routing problems. The General Routing Problem on network G = (N; A) requires finding the minimum cost cycle that visits every node in subset Q ⊆ N and that traverses every arc in a subset R ⊆ A. Utilizing special problem characteristics and the structure of real transportation networks, large reduction in effective problem size and complexity can often be made. This permits a very effective heuristic to produce optimum and near optimum solutions quickly.
Constructing an Optimal Fleet for a Transportation Schedule
Authors: Gertsbach I. , Gurevich Yu.
Published: October 2008

A schedule is a set of passages; a passage is a 4-tuple p = (p1, p2, p3, p4) where p1, p2 denote departure and arrival terminals, p3, p4 departure and arrival times. A fleet is a partition of the schedule into chains; each chain is a finite or infinite sequence of passages p1, p2, … having the property pn2 = pn+11 and pn4 ≤ pn+13. The fleet-size is the minimal possible dimension (i.e., the number of chains) of the fleets. The deficit function d(t, a) for a terminal a is the difference between the number of departures and arrivals occurring at a during the interval [0, t]. It is proved that the fleet-aim is equal to ∑amaxt≥0 d(t, a). A general method for constructing all optimal fleets is described. A special case of periodic schedules is studied and it is proved that a periodic schedule can be decomposed into an optimal periodic fleet. Applications of the deficit function technique to practical scheduling when passages have tolerances for departure times are discussed.