Ex post adaptations and hybrid contracts in software development services

We follow the recent literature on ex post adaptations in procurement and argue that highly volatile specifications result in multiple variations of fixed price (FP) and time and materials (T&M) contracts. Specifically, placing a cap on specification change in FP contracts prevents specification volatility, similar to the way that placing a cap on the price in T&M contracts prevents price escalation. We argue that these hybrid mechanisms are particularly important in software development contracting, a new critical business capability involving frequent and costly ex post adaptations to specification change. The level of completeness in these contractual archetypes is hypothesized to be determined by contracting costs and benefits, where costs are related to project uncertainty and benefits are related to the likelihood of vendor opportunism. We test this hypothesis with a unique data set of 270 software development contracts entered into by a leading international bank. The analysis confirms the existence of multiple hybrid contracts that mitigate both price escalation and specification volatility. It also shows that contracting costs and benefits explain more variance in contract choice when these hybrids are included, uncovering the detailed mechanisms used to curb opportunism when the vendor is less familiar to the client.     

The structure and infrastructure of Finnish research literature1

The structure and infrastructure of the Finnish research literature is determined. A representative database of technical articles was extracted from the Science Citation Index for the years 2003–2004, with each article containing at least one author with a Finnish address. Document clustering was used to identify the main technical themes (core competencies) of Finnish research. Four of the pervasive technical topics identified from the clustering (Wireless Networks and Mobile Communication, Signal Processing, Materials Science and Engineering, Chemistry) were analyzed further using bibliometrics, in order to identify the infrastructure of these research areas. Finally, the citation performance of Finnish research in the four pervasive technical topics above, and in other technical topics obtained by analysis of Abstract phrases, was compared to that of two Scandanavian countries with similar population and GDP, Norway and Denmark.     

Risk management in the energy markets and Value-at-Risk modelling: a hybrid approach

This paper proposes a set of Value-at-Risk (VaR) models appropriate to capture the dynamics of energy prices and subsequently quantify energy price risk by calculating VaR and expected shortfall measures. Amongst the competing VaR methodologies evaluated in this paper, besides the commonly used benchmark models, a Monte Carlo (MC) simulation approach and a hybrid MC with historical simulation approach, both assuming various processes for the underlying spot prices, are also being employed. All VaR models are empirically tested on eight spot energy commodities that trade futures contracts on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and the constructed Spot Energy Index. A two-stage evaluation and selection process is applied, combining statistical and economic measures, to choose amongst the competing VaR models. Finally, both long and short trading positions are considered as it is of utmost importance for energy traders and risk managers to be able to capture efficiently the characteristics of both tails of the distributions.     

Entrepreneurial marketing and hybrid entrepreneurship: the case of JM Reid Bamboo Rods

ABSTRACT

Through the presentation of the case of James Reid, a hybrid entrepreneur that transitioned towards full-time entrepreneurship, this paper discusses a number of entrepreneurial marketing issues faced by a small business. When presented with several opportunities for business growth, Reid evaluates the extent to which growth could impact his business model, brand image and his passion. The case study demonstrates the importance of maintaining brand values and establishing a clear strategic orientation in order to create a strong brand. However, these are shown to also significantly limit the growth prospects of the business. The discussion of the case delves into these issues together with an examination of the entrepreneurial journey of a highly skilled transitory hybrid entrepreneur. This paper further introduces the concept of a comfort entrepreneur, one that willingly halts the growth of their venture, and examines the business implications thereof.     

Characterisitcs of Exporting and Nonexporting Joint Ventures in Saudi Arabia

The study profiled 83 exporting and onexporting manufacturing joint ventures (JVs) in Saudi Arabia. This represents about one-fourth of all manufacturing JVs in operation at the end of 1987. Stepwise discriminant analysis showed that a set of 9 characteristics representing 4 factors were signficant in differentiating the two groups. Exporting JVs tend to be larger, produce industrial goods in more technology intensive industrial sectors, and be more leveraged than nonexporting JVs. Potential limitations of these findings, and their implications for the policy makers are also discussed.     

一种基于能耗均衡的ZigBee网络高效混合路由算法

针对目前ZigBee网络混合路由算法寻找开销偏大、能耗不均的问题,提出一种高效混合路由算法（EHCA）。通过采用跨层泛听与优先使用深度大、剩余能量多的节点进行路由的方式,减少部分泛洪寻路分组的转发,均衡节点能耗。仿真结果表明,EHCA的节点能耗均衡、路由开销和网络寿命等性能均优于混合路由算法和树路由算法。     

近程强杂波限幅处理对旁瓣相消性能的影响

分析了雷达同时受到有源干扰和无源干扰的情况下其抗干扰性能下降的原因。通过数学推导 以及仿真实验对各种因素进行分析,结果表明：引起雷达抗干扰性能变差的原因是由于限幅 对旁瓣相消性能的影响。     

混合絮凝剂对浆染废水的处理

文章针对浆染废水浓度大、色度深、普通药荆难处理等问题,采用混合药剂对废水进行絮凝沉淀处理,取得良好效果.     

并联混合动力汽车性能仿真分析

文章建立了并联混合动力汽车的动力性能数学模型,并在MATLAB平台下开发了并联混合动力汽车动力性能仿真软件系统。基于此软件,对某并联混合动力汽车的动力性能进行了仿真,并将其与试验结果进行了对比,证明了模型的有效性。最后,依据仿真结果,分析了影响并联混合动力汽车动力性能的各项参数,并据此提出了改进其性能参数以提高其动力性能的方法。     

一种新的八参数轴对称组合杂交元的优化方法

组合杂交变分原理中的组合参数的选取是一个难点．基于遗传算法的思想，为能量协调轴对称元组合参数的选取提供了一个方法．数值算例结果表明，这样改进后得到的轴对称元各方面性能很好，数值结果几乎接近精确值．