bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Relational Systems of Preference with One or More Pseudo-Criteria: Some New Concepts and Results
Authors: Roy B. , Vincke Ph. 
Published: November 2008

This paper proposes new concepts and new results which could lead to a more realistic preference modeling than in classical decision theory. Sections 1–3 present four fundamental situations of preferences, their combinations and the concept of relational system of preferences. In §4, a particular case of relational system of preference is studied. It is associated with the concept of pseudo-criterion derived from the classical concept of criterion by adjunction of two thresholds. Some results are given, generalizing the properties of such well-known structures as complete preorders and semiorders. Sections 5 and 6 emphasize the possibilities given by the preceding concepts to take the imprecisions, irresolutions and incomparabilities appearing in every concrete problem where several criteria must be considered into account.
Topological and Computational Aspects of Preemptive Multicriteria Military Personnel Assignment Problems
Authors: Klingman Darwin , Phillips Nancy V. 
Published: November 2008

This paper first presents a brief reveiw of the multicriteria problems faced by the United States Army, Navy, and Marine Corps in making enlisted personnel assignment decisions. Then for the most complex of these military assignment problems, the Marine Corps problem, a new modeling and solution approach is presented with computational results for a problem having eleven criteria and approximately 10,000 constraints and 780,000 variables. Other contributions of this paper include: New insights into the effects on model structure and solution efficiency of handling preemptive multiple criteria sequentially versus simultaneously. Derivation of an excellent convex proportional fill function. Providing multicriteria researchers with a class of large-scale test problems.
User Involvement and MIS Success: A Review of Research
Authors: Ives Blake , Olson Margrethe H. 
Published: November 2008

User involvement in the design of computer-based information systems is enthusiastically endorsed in the prescriptive literature. However determining when and how much, or even if, user involvement is appropriate are questions that have received inadequate research attention. In this paper research that examines the link between user involvement and indicators of system success is reviewed. The authors find that much of the existing research is poorly grounded in theory and methodologically flawed; as a result, the benefits of user involvement have not been convincingly demonstrated. Until higher quality studies are completed intuition, experience, and unsubstantiated prescriptions will remain the practitioner's best guide to the determination of appropriate levels and types of user involvement; these will generally suggest that user involvement is appropriate for unstructured problems or when user acceptance is important. In order to foster higher quality integrated research and to increase understanding of the user involvement-system success relationship, the authors present the following: a conceptual framework into which previous research has been mapped that can provide direction to future efforts; a review of existing measures of user involvement and system success; a set of variables that have been proposed as potentially impacting the relationship between user involvement and system success.
An Examination of “Push-Pull” Theory Applied to Process Innovation in Knowledge Work
Authors: Zmud Robert W. 
Published: November 2008

Because many organizations have not been successful in introducing new task and managerial methods into the workplace, considerable attention has been directed toward developing a more complete understanding of organizational innovation. Three separate literatures (organizational science, engineering/R&D management, and MS/OR/MIS implementation) have, in fact, been concerned with innovation and technology diffusion; however, surprisingly little integration among the three has occurred. This paper reports on a study which examined a key tenet from each of these literatures in an effort to construct a robust model of innovative behavior. Specifically, the study utilized survey data in examining the validity of “push-pull” theory (i.e., that innovation is most likely to occur when a need and a means to resolve that need are simultaneously recognized) as well as the importance of top management attitude toward an innovation and of organizational receptivity toward change. The research context involved the diffusion of six modern software practices into 47 software development groups. While the model's independent variables explained a rather large amount of the variance in the use of these modern software practices, “push-pull” theory was not validated. A number of explanations are offered for the apparent failure of “push-pull” theory. Top management attitude and organizational receptivity toward change, however, were generally found to influence organizational innovation. As hypothesized, significant differences emerged in the factors influencing administrative and technical innovations with organizational receptivity toward change important only for the technical innovations. This suggests that organizational processes facilitating innovation should vary depending on the nature of the innovation involved.
A Distributed Parameter Cohort Personnel Planning Model That Uses Cross-Sectional Data
Authors: Gaimon Cheryl , Thompson Gerald L. 
Published: November 2008

The two types of mathematical manpower planning models that appear in the literature involve either longitudinal or cross-sectional formulations. Despite the high degree of realism achieved, the use of longitudinal models is limited because the implementation requires the knowledge of a large amount of historical personnel data that is often unavailable. The value of cross-sectional models requiring a minimal amount of data is diminished due to (1) the difficulty in transferring cross-sectional results into cohort information, and (2) an assumption implicit in the structure of these models stating that the movement of an individual from one grade in the organization to another is independent of that person's organizational age. In this paper, we present a cohort (longitudinal) personnel planning model solved using distributed parameter optimal control theory that requires only cross-sectional data. We derive the optimal hiring, promotion, separation and retirement policies of an organization as functions of time and a person's organizational age and grade. In response to changing goal levels of manpower, we observe changes in the optimal policies and their subsequent effect on the career paths of cohort groups over time.
Blood Inventory Management: An Overview of Theory and Practice
Authors: Prastacos Gregory P. 
Published: November 2008

Blood Inventory Management has attracted significant interest from the Operations Research profession during the last 15 years. A number of methodological contributions have been made in the areas of inventory theory and combinatoric optimization that can be of use to other products or systems. These contributions include the development of exact and approximate ordering and issuing policies for an inventory system, the analysis of LIFO or multi-product systems, and various forms of distribution scheduling. In addition, many of these results have been implemented, either as decision rules for efficient blood management in a hospital, or as decision support systems for hierarchical planning in a Regional Blood Center. In this paper we attempt a review of the recent Operations Research contributions to blood inventory management theory and practice. Whereas many problems have been solved, others remain open and new ones keep being created with advances in medical technology and practices. Our approach is not to present an exhaustive review of all the literature in the field, but rather to address several important issues from a unified perspective of theory and practice, and point out new areas for further research.
An Empirical Test of Value-Based Planning Models and Implications
Authors: Woo Carolyn Y. 
Published: November 2008

The value of the firm is clearly the central purpose of most entrepreneurial activities. Considering the scope, nature and impact of Strategic Management decisions, one would expect firm value to be an integral concern of this area. Yet seldom do we observe value being explicitly managed or systematically linked to the strategies and direction of the firm. Recent economic pressures are escalating the need to achieve a more complete and concrete portrayal of this relationship. In this search, a small number of frameworks have sprung up from traditional finance models to describe the value creation/destruction process from the strategic management perspective. Though these models have generated strong interest and have provided useful insights, they have not been subjected to large-scale empirical evaluation. This research examined two frameworks and assessed the degree of empirical support for their implications. Based on 4,000 observations in 40 industries over a ten-year period, the current effort provided only partial support for the models and their implications. This paper supported the qualitative contributions of these models to better decision-making processes. Their statistical explanatory power, however, was not demonstrated.
Project Selection Decision Making Linked to a Dynamic Environment
Authors: Fox G. Edward , Baker Norman R. 
Published: November 2008

A simulation model that attempts to include simplified market and production characteristics of a hypothetical firm and a specific project selection decision mechanism is constructed. Three types of projects are assumed to exist—projects whose impact is to increase market share, decrease production cost and increase production capacity. An experiment aimed at two questions is conducted. The questions are (1) Do different market conditions affect project selection decisions and (2) over time, what patterns of project selection emerge. In the model and experiment, an attempt is made to capture the essence of Abernathy and Utterback's model of the innovation process so that it may be applied to more specific settings. Observed project selection patterns over time indicate an apparent relationship between market share increasing and production cost decreasing projects and Abernathy and Utterback's concept of product innovation, and similarly between capacity increasing projects and process innovation. The model can be viewed as an attempt at developing a linkage between the environment of a firm and an “iterative decision mechanism” as proposed by Baker and Sweeney.
An Improved Successive Linear Programming Algorithm
Authors: Zhang Jianzhong , Kim Nae-Heon , Lasdon L. 
Published: November 2008

Successive Linear Programming (SLP) algorithms solve nonlinear optimization problems via a sequence of linear programs. They have been widely used, particularly in the oil and chemical industries, beginning with their introduction by Griffith and Stewart of Shell Development Company in 1961. Since then, several applications and variants of SLP have appeared, the most recent being the SLPR algorithm described in this journal in 1982 (Palacios-Gomez et al.). SLP procedures are attractive because they are fairly easy to implement if an efficient, flexible LP code is available, can solve nonseparable as well as separable problems, can be applied to as large a problem as the LP code can handle (often thousands of constraints and variables), and have been successful in many practical applications. This paper describes a new SLP algorithm called PSLP (Penalty SLP). PSLP represents a significant strengthening and refinement of the SLPR procedure described in Palacios-Gomez et al. (Palacios-Gomez, F., L. Lasdon, M. Engquist. 1982. Nonlinear optimization by successive linear programming. Management Sci. 28 1106–1120.). We give a convergence proof for PSLP—the first SLP convergence proof for nonlinearly constrained problems of general form. This theory is supported by computational performance—in our tests, PSLP is significantly more robust than SLPR, and at least as efficient. A Fortran computer implementation is described. A simplified version of PSLP has already solved several “real world” NLP problems at Exxon (Baker and Lasdon [Baker, T. E., L. S. Lasdon. 1985. Successive linear programming at Exxon. Management Sci. 31 (March) 264–274.), including nonlinear refinery models of up to 1000 rows. As with other SLP algorithms, PSLP is especially efficient on problems which are highly constrained, i.e., which have nearly as many active constraints as there are variables. For problems with vertex optima (at least as many active constraints as variables), it is quadratically convergent. Nonlinear refinery models often have vertex optima, since they are large and mostly linear, and on line process unit optimization problems are likely to possess highly constrained solutions as well. PSLP has great potential for accurate, efficient solution of such problems.
98%-Effective Integer-Ratio Lot-Sizing for One-Warehouse Multi-Retailer Systems
Authors: Roundy Robin 
Published: November 2008

A warehouse supplies N retailers. Constant external demand occurs at each retailer, and shortages are not allowed. There are linear holding costs and fixed costs for ordering at the warehouse and at each retailer. The goal is to minimize the long-run average cost over an infinite time horizon. We define a new class of policies for this problem whose simple structure facilitates both computation and implementation. The cost of a policy that is optimal within this class is shown to be within 2% of the cost of an optimal policy for the original problem, in the worst case. Such a policy can be computed in O(N log N) time.
Capital Rationing and Organizational Slack in Capital Budgeting
Authors: Antle Rick , Eppen Gary D. 
Published: November 2008

This paper reconciles three stylized facts about capital budgeting in firms and shows that they are tied to the presence of asymmetric information among the several members of the firm, each with his or her own objectives and decisions. The facts of interest are: 1. The existence of organizational slack. 2. The “rationing” of resources within organizations. 3. The stated “cut off rate” for accepting capital projects in firms is often greater than the market rate of interest. Organizational slack is defined as the excess of resources allocated over the minimum necessary to accomplish the tasks assigned. Resource rationing is defined as the under-allocation of resources; i.e., an increase in the amount allocated would generate revenues in excess of its costs. Rationing and slack are both manifestations of ex post inefficiencies. An LP model is used to show that these inefficiencies can occur in ex ante efficient organizational designs when asymmetric information is present. The optimal allocation policy involves a hurdle rate criterion in which the hurdle rate is strictly in excess of the cost of capital, thus inducing rationing in some states of the world. Typically, resources are optimally allocated such that slack exists in other states. The optimal allocation policy trades off these two inefficiencies.
A Linear Dynamic Programming Approach to Irrigation System Management with Depleting Groundwater
Authors: Stoecker A. L. , Seidmann A. , Lloyd G. S. 
Published: November 2008

A model for measuring the economic benefits of irrigation system development over a depleting aquifer is presented, along with related methodology for detailed long-range farm planning. The paper considers management issues, such as distribution system configuration, drilling policy, area developed for irrigation, and crop production. A Linear Dynamic Programming (LDP) method is developed and applied to derive optimal temporal investments in the use of stock resources and long-term cropping plans. First, parametric linear programming (PLP) is used to maximize periodic profits subject to specified values of state variables related to annual water use and irrigation system capacity. The PLP results are then used in a dynamic programming model to determine the optimal allocation of water and irrigation resources over time. The impact of aquifer depletion on the profitability of furrow and pivot irrigation systems is illustrated for a typical farm situation in the Texas High Plains. Results indicate that the economic benefits of modern water and energy efficient irrigation systems may come from the expansion of current irrigation intensity rather than from an extended period of irrigation when water is initially scarce relative to land. Several conditions are identified where economic depletion may occur before the point of physical exhaustion is reached.
Investment Planning and Arm's Length Control in a Nationalised Industry
Authors: Lioukas Spyros K. 
Published: November 2008

Applying a relatively decentralised system of control which would keep state-owned enterprises (SOE) at arm's length from ministerial departments has been a stated policy for many governments around the world. However, the specific controls typically used for implementing this policy have seldom been successful. The purpose of this paper is to review and evaluate certain of these controls, drawing upon the British system of arm's length control of nationalised industries. In order to delimit the problem the paper cuts across the government-SOE relationship from the perspective of investment planning. Using primary information from the capital investment process in a particular nationalised industry, the paper searches for evidence on whether and in what ways existing controls have not been successful. Three types of controls are investigated: (1) The economic and financial groundrules, which are supposed to simulate a competitive, business-style efficiency. These rules are often assumed to act as an “invisible hand,” limiting direct government control. (2) The direct investment review, in the framework of the wider public sector expenditure survey. In discussing the nature of this review the paper examines whether government approval of investment conforms to an incrementalist or “muddling through” model. It further considers the role for incremental methods in controlling SOE investment. (3) The attempt to use corporate planning as a control instrument. Evidence from internal control processes within the enterprise and in particular the review of investment by a Central Executive is used in order to evaluate the above controls. This serves to show the diffuse character of the planning process and the possibilities and limitations of using similar controls at the government level. Suggestions are put forward for strengthening these forms of control by modifying or reinforcing certain elements within the existing arm's length framework. The paper would be useful for evaulating the difficulties involved in establishing some form of orderlines and formalisation in government-SOE relationships. It shows some of the weaknesses associated with certain “technocratic” rules and solutions to public policy problems in this environment.
On the Joint Decisions of R&D and Technology Adoption
Authors: Lee Tom K. 
Published: November 2008

This paper attempts to bridge the gap between R&D models that do not consider technology adoption decisions and technology adoption models that do not consider R&D decisions. It develops and analyzes a decision-theoretic model on the joint decisions of R&D and technology adoption of a firm. Two interesting comparative statics results are obtained. First, an increase in the cost of R&D reduces the incentive for a firm to do R&D. Secondly, an increase in the cost of technology adoption or an increase in the market interest rate reduces the incentive for a firm to adopt new technology and also reduces the incentive for a firm to do R&D. Under certain conditions, an increase in the cost of R&D increases the incentive for a firm to adopt new technology.
The Impact of Interorganizational Manpower Flows on the Innovation Process
Authors: Ettlie John E. 
Published: November 2008

In a study of 56 food processing firms, respondents reported on manpower flows that had an important influence on innovation decision making. Positive gain manpower flows appear to be a relatively rare occurrence. Only 23 (41%) of these 56 firms report any significant, innovation-impact, personnel additions, and 15 of these involve management positions. Four propositions were tested that focus on the relationship between manpower flows and innovative outcomes of an organization, i.e., offering new products and incorporating new processes. Moderate support was found for the proposition that net gain manpower flows are more likely to be related to radical as opposed to incremental process adoption. Evidence suggests that there is an inverted “u” shaped relationship between, net manpower flows and innovation outcomes. New blood stimulates innovation up to a point after which there is disruption to the innovation process. Adding too many people at once who all have a significant influence on the process may be unwise. The impact of manpower flows on innovative outcomes appears to be moderated by organization structure and the availability of slack resources for innovating. In particular, net manpower flows were significantly more likely to be positively correlated with the sum of the staged adoption behaviors for the retort pouch in decentralized (p ≤ 0.05) and complex (p < 0.01) organizations. This and other evidence suggest that structural autonomy and new job titles with substantial visibility in the firm can go far to accommodate newcomers and capture the innovative benefits of their arrival. The availability of slack resources strengthens the relationship between the adoption of the retort pouch and net manpower flows although the effects were not as strong (p < 0.10) as for the structural moderators. This supports the common sense notion that newcomers who have had a significant effect on innovative decision making will see these decisions implemented in organizations that allocate resources to innovating.
Optimal Strategic Petroleum Reserve Policies: A Steady State Analysis
Authors: Oren Shmuel S. , Wan Shao Hong 
Published: November 2008

A simple model is presented which allows us to determine the optimal size, fillup, and drawdown rates for a Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) under a variety of supply and demand conditions. The optimal policy variables are determined by minimizing an analytic expression which we derive for the expected insecurity cost rate to the U.S. due to uncertainty in supply of imported oil. The oil market is modeled in terms of an elastic demand curve and two levels of supply which alternate according to a stationary, continuous time Markov process. The SPR policy is characterized by a fixed fillup rate up to the reserve's capacity, when supply is at its normal level, and a fixed drawdown rate during shortages. The insecurity cost rate being minimized includes consumer welfare loss due to price hikes, reserve holding cost and capital appreciation of the reserve. Base case results and sensitivity analysis are presented and compared to results obtained by previous approaches. These comparisons suggest that the proposed model can reasonably approximate the more computationally demanding stochastic dynamic programming formulation. The main advantage of the new approach is that it permits extensive sensitivity analysis which is important given the quality of the data.