A game theoretic analysis of interactions between law abiding citizens and criminals with respect to ownership of guns

In this paper, it is recognized that there are criminals and law abiding citizens in any society, and that their decisions to own guns are based on rather different, through interdependent, motives. These ideas are used as a conceptual basis for a game theoretic model which is used to analyze one isolated interaction and two forms of repeated interactions. The Nash equilibrium is the main results in the static form of the game. It is concluded from the analysis of the dynamic forms that this equilibrium in globally stable. The presentation proceeds to the study of possible consequences of direct and indirect policy interventions regulating the proportion of law abiding citizens and of criminals that own guns. The paper concludes with some observations on the model's limitations and some suggestions for its improvement.     

Using supply chain management to leverage a firm's market orientation

Building supplier relationships and becoming more market oriented have similar building blocks and have similar effects. Strong supplier relationships tend to impact the firm's performance, in part, because the firm can respond to customer needs in a more timely fashion. Supplier relationships tend to be stronger in firms where there is cross-functional sharing of supplier and customer information. Market orientation is an organizational culture that focuses the company on generating market information, cross-functionally sharing that market information, and rapidly responding to that market information to positively impact the performance of the firm. This study explored whether the positive effects of strong supplier relationships are enhanced in market-oriented firms. Results support the notion that supplier relationships are one way of leveraging a firm's market orientation through improved customer responsiveness. Cross-functional sharing of information appears to be the link that ties market orientation and stronger supplier relationships together.     

A Test of Political Control of the Bureaucracy: The Case of Mergers

This paper tests a model of political control of the bureaucracy using a data set of mergers evaluated by the Federal Trade Commission between 1983 and 2000. The results support a sophisticated control model in which the President sets the agenda within the scope of policies acceptable to Congress. Changes in Presidential administration and in the composition of Congress can, but do not necessarily, affect merger policy. Instead, the shift in policy depends on how the institutions of the Presidency and Congress interact both in the previous and current periods.     

A Data Envelopment Analysis of the Efficiency of Victorian TAFE Institutes

In recent years the provision of vocational education and training has been recognised as having a vital role to play in improving Australia's economic performance and in alleviating the hardship of the long term unemployed. The importance of education and training gives rise to the issue of operating educational institutions with a high level of efficiency. In this article, Data Envelopment Analysis is used to derive estimates of the technical and scale efficiency of Victorian Technical and Further Education Institutes in 1995. The results reveal substantial dispersion in technical and scale efficiencies. Regression analysis is used to identify variables which are associated with technical inefficiency.     

Reviews

ECONOMIC RESTRUCTURING AND GENDER.

Wheelock, J. 1990: Husbands at Home. London: Routledge, £10.99.

Stubbs, C. and Wheelock, J. 1990: A Woman's Work in the Changing Local Economy. Aldershot: AveburyfGower, £27.50 cloth.

INDUSTRIAL REGENERATION POLICY.

Totterdill, P., Farrands, C., Gawaith, M. and Gillingwater, D. 1989: Industrial Policy and Regeneration of British Manufacturing Industry: The Case of Clothing. Local Economic Policy Review 1. Loughborough: University of Technology, £5.00 paper.

Totterdill, P., with Durucan, C., Farrands, C., Gawaith, M. and Gillingwater, D. 1990: Sunset Industries: Industrial Policy and the Regeneration of British Manufacturing. Local Economic Policy Review 2. Loughborough: University of Technology, £5.00 paper.

WHO BENEFITED IN THE LATE 1980S BOOM?

Robinson, P. 1990: Racial Disadvantage and the Economic Cycle. Research Report No 2. London: Campaign for Work, £4.00 pamphlet.     

Organizing for new product development speed and the implications for organizational stress

This study examines the effects of bureaucratic structure and organizational control on new product development (NPD) speed. It also examines the effects of NPD speed on organizational stress. The empirical findings from 130 US manufacturing companies can be summarized as follows. Formalized structures and centralized structures have a negative impact on invention speed. Formal controls have a positive impact on innovation speed. Informal controls have a positive impact on both invention speed and innovation speed. Invention speed has a positive impact on organizational stress and innovation speed has a negative impact on organizational stress.     

Clustering technique for risk classification and prediction of claim costs in the automobile insurance industry

This paper considers the problem of predicting claim costs in the automobile insurance industry. The first stage involves classifying policy holders according to their perceived risk, followed by modelling the claim costs within each risk group. Two methods are compared for the risk classification stage: a data‐driven approach based on hierarchical clustering, and a previously published heuristic method that groups policy holders according to pre‐defined factors. Regression is used to model the expected claim costs within a risk group. A case study is presented utilizing real data, and both risk classification methods are compared according to a variety of accuracy measures. The results of the case study show the benefits of employing a data‐driven approach. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Decision models in global supply chain management

Integrative decision making is key to effective supply chain management (SCM). This article examines five illustrative supply chain decision models that demonstrate the importance of integrating the decisions across the supply chain. The models that are discussed illustrate the diversity of analytical approaches and their usefulness in managing global supply chain issues. The paper identifies potential areas of additional research where analytical modeling can generate useful insights. The paper also presents a short categorization of decision models from literature.