Seven challenges to combining human and automated service

We introduce this special issue by addressing seven key challenges associated with managing hybrid human-automated service systems. These consist of the following:

• 1 What strategic and tactical issues arise when managing hybrid service systems?
• 2 How should the core “value proposition” be set?
• 3 What special considerations arise in the design and implementation phases?
• 4 How can service delivery be managed to identify systemic problems and to address service breakdowns?
• 5 How can communications with clients improve the functioning of service systems?
• 6 What performance measures should be used to monitor process, outputs, client perceptions, and financial outcomes?
• 7 How can we coordinate the various interdisciplinary activities needed to address the previous six issues?

We consider these challenges after first characterizing the historical evolution of service delivery, reviewing some of the literature in the administrative sciences, and proposing a conceptual framework. Copyright © 2009 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

企业突发环境事件风险评估编制技术要点探讨

环境风险评估包括风险识别、风险分析和风险评价的全过程,突发环境事件风险评估对于企业增强风险防控和事故应对能力具有重要意义。论文以江苏某食品制造企业为例,从突发环境事件风险评估的程序出发,对环境风险识别、突发环境事件情景分析、风险防控措施和应急管理差距分析、风险等级划分等编制技术要点进行分析和说明,为企业开展突发环境事件风险评估提供一定的参考。     

厦门营运中心发展的战略研究

由于厦门资源有限,经济总量小,产业面临升级,为寻求持续发展提出要发展企业营运中心。本文从环境、资源和竞争分析厦门发展营运中心的情形,最后从发展定位、发展重点和发展思路提出厦门营运中心的发展战略和保障措施。     

Originators,wholesalers, and conduits: The marginal value of the contract rate on 30-year conventional mortgages

The model we present solves for the value of an incremental change in the mortgage contract given an expectation about the time the mortgage will be outstanding and a required return for this time span. The marginal value participants in the primary mortgage market place on the contract rate of a 30-year conventional mortgage determines the array of bids for new mortgage production. Mortgagors can issue mortgages at various discounts. High discounts are associated with low contract rates, and low discounts are associated with high contract rates. This article examines the way wholesale dealers and conduits value the various contract rates associated with current production of 30-year conventional mortgages.     

Performance Effects of Setting a High Reference Point for Peer‐Performance Comparison

We conduct a field experiment, based on a registered report accepted by the Journal of Accounting Research, to test performance effects of setting a high reference point for peer‐performance comparison. Relative to providing the median as a reference point for online students to compare themselves to, providing the top quartile: damps performance for those below the median, boosts performance for those between the median and top quartile, and, in the case of outcome but not process comparison, boosts performance for those above the top quartile. We do not find that either reference point yields a greater average performance effect. However, providing the more effective reference point in each partition of initial performance yields a 40% greater performance effect than providing either reference point uniformly. Students access the online courses intermittently over the span of a year. Our effects derive from small portions of our treatment groups—5% in the case of process comparison and 26% in the case of outcome comparison—who accessed treatment and who were, on average, more active leading up to and during our intervention.     

Predatory trading,Stigma and the Fed׳s Term Auction Facility

Predatory trading may affect the incentives for banks to raise liquidity in times of financial distress. In these periods, borrowing becomes a signal of illiquidity, exposing borrowers to predatory trading and possible insolvency. A stigma of borrowing thus arises, leading distressed banks to take on more illiquid positions than they would otherwise. The Fed׳s Term Auction Facility (TAF) can alleviate this problem. The TAF׳s competitive auction format allows auction winners to signal that they are illiquid but relatively strong. The TAF may therefore be an effective policy tool during financial crises: by altering the signal value of borrowing, this facility supports the injection of liquidity into distressed banks. In normal times, however, this auction facility becomes counterproductive: by cream-skimming the relatively strong banks, the weakest banks are left as potential prey for predators. This suggests that the TAF is a policy best reserved for times of crisis.     

高校成人英语教学探析

在经济飞速发展,国际合作交流日益频繁的今天,英语在工作中的使用越来越频繁。如何提高高校成人英语教学质量,一直是英语教师不断探索和研究的重要课题。文中对成人英语教学的重点、难点和教学方法进行了一些再探讨。     

The perception of discount sales promotions – A utilitarian and hedonic perspective

This paper explores the effects of utilitarian and hedonic benefits perceptions of discount sales promotions on consumer purchase decisions (attitude and behavioral intention). A closed-ended survey, as well as a partial least squares structural equation modeling of consumers sampling who had used discount sales promotions in their recent purchases, was utilized in this study. The findings suggest that utilitarian benefits perceptions derived from price-quality perception and hedonic benefits perceptions derived from smart shopper self-perception of using discount sales promotions positively affect consumer purchase decisions. Both utilitarian and hedonic benefits perceptions of discount sales promotions can henceforth be used to produce the desired effects on purchase decisions. Hence, this paper sheds light on the effects of utilitarian and hedonic benefits perception of discount sales promotions on purchase decisions. Though the findings are limited to discount sales promotions alone and two types of purchase decisions outcomes (attitude and behavioral intentions), this paper identified multiple avenues to extend its findings. This encourages further exploration of such promotion topics, particularly on the various perceptions of discount sales promotions as well as other sales promotion techniques among marketing academics and practitioners.     

西部大开发新疆矿业开发新思路和重点

西部大开发中新疆矿业开发的新思路就是将西部大开发战略、新疆优势矿产转换战略、科教兴新战略和可持续发展战略有机地结合起来,并指出了在当前和21世纪前中期要抓好五项重点工作。     

建筑工程模板分部工程施工浅析

随着城市建设的速度加快,施工规模的增大,技术日趋复杂化,施工难度不断加大,这对施工质量提出更为严格的要求。建筑质量的好坏及施工速度很大一部分取决于模板工程施工。因此,探讨占总工程的工期和劳动量比重较大的模板施工,并推动模板工程施工质量发展,对促进工程建筑质量的进一步提升具有十分重要的现实意义。