A profit-maximization location-capacity model for designing a service system with risk of service interruptions

This paper considers the design of an immobile service system in which each facility’s service process is subject to the risk of interruptions. The location-capacity decisions and allocations are simultaneously made to maximize the difference between the service provider’s profit and the sum of customers’ transportation and waiting costs. An efficient Lagrangian-based solution algorithm is developed, which solves large-sized instances with up to 50 service facilities and 500 customers in a few seconds. Several sensitivity analyses and managerial insights are presented. The model is also applied to a case study on a logistics network design problem in the zinc mining industry.     

Understanding tourists' itineraries in emerging rural tourism regions: the application of paper-based itinerary mapping methodology to a wine tourism region in Michigan

In recent years, many rural areas have turned to tourism as a way of reviving their communities. One challenge to such efforts is that community leaders in these areas often have limited experience with tourism and consequently lack the knowledge and resources to best facilitate sustainable tourism initiatives. Moreover, an influx of tourists to an area puts new demands on infrastructure. Information about tourists' itineraries can help communities to address new challenges that result from tourism, however using emerging technologies such as GPS and Internet-based map surveys can be expensive and require expertise many rural tourism planners do not have. Paper-based itinerary mapping methodology can be a cost effective way of providing local officials, tourism planners, and businesses with important information to inform decisions about how to invest limited resources. This study applies paper-based itinerary mapping to an emerging wine tourism area in a rural county in the US state of Michigan. Because it involves tourists travelling from place to place within a region, wine tourism is particularly well-suited for itinerary mapping. Results provide specific recommendations to local officials, tourism planners, and businesses. Moreover, the study offers an example to researchers interested in conducting studies that use paper-based itinerary mapping methodology.     

System dynamics modelling and forecasting health tourism demand: the case of Russian resorts

This article presents the results of the system dynamics modelling of the regional market of health tourism in the Krasnodar region of Russia. The research was based on various indicators characterizing the supply and demand for this type of tourism for years 2006–2012. The medium-term forecast made by constructed model shows a possible decrease in number of health tourists and income of sanatorium organizations. Price competition of inexpensive foreign resorts was a key factor influencing the market of tourist services; therefore ruble devaluation to US dollar may improve the prognostic indicators.     

Devising an electronically supported heritage conservation method for the Valley of Flowers in the Indian Himalayas

The Valley of Flowers is a national park in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand in India that was classified as a world natural heritage site in 1988. Around 1982, its maximum carrying capacity was fixed at 60 persons per day, which has been called excessive by experts and observers, given the extremely fragile and immensely valuable nature of the Valley's heritage. This, in monetary terms, can be put at millions of dollars, and is considerably more viewed in terms of knowledge of breeding medicinal plants in cold climates that are being affected by climate change, which its microclimate and ecology present. Given the state's poor resources and the fact that tourism is one of the most important industries for development and conservation, this research assesses the heritage value of the Valley and develops a programme for conservation, including a computerised program for permits, whose value can easily be raised from the current paltry Rs 150 per person. Accompanied by fallow periods and marketing through the Internet to aim for educated tourists, the program ensures that the maximum carrying capacity of the Valley is never exceeded, thus spreading out the number of tourists over its 3.5-month season, while allowing flexibility in booking for chance groups and small families that can pay more.     

Financial distress and the Malaysian dual baking system: A dynamic slacks approach

This paper presents an efficiency assessment of the Malaysian dual banking system using the Dynamic Slacks Based Model (DSBM) in order to assess the evolution of Malaysian Banks’ potential input–saving/output–increase from 2009 to 2013. More precisely, DSBM is used first in a two-stage approach to assess the relative efficiency of Malaysian Islamic and conventional banks by emulating the CAMEL rating systems. Then, in the second stage, Monte Carlo Markov Chain (MCMC) methods applied to generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) are combined with DSBM results as part of an attempt to produce a model for banking performance assessment with effective predictive ability. Results indicate higher inefficiency levels and slacks in Islamic banks when compared to conventional ones. Furthermore, when the scope of analysis is the group of Malaysian Islamic banks, the efficiency levels of foreign banks are lower compared to their national counterparts, suggesting regulatory and cultural barriers. Policy implications are derived.     

Nontraditional student withdrawal from undergraduate accounting programmes: a holistic perspective

A collaborative project of several Quebec universities, this study investigates nontraditional student withdrawal from undergraduate accounting programmes. A nontraditional student is older than 24, or is a commuter or a part-time student, or combines some of these characteristics. Univariate and multivariate analyses of student dropout factors were performed. A logistic regression for full-time students indicates several significant determinants of student withdrawal: returning to school after working for some time, enrolment in a non-first choice programme, dissatisfaction with programme choice and courses, and low grade point average (GPA). For part-time students, low GPA is the main explanatory factor for student withdrawal. Other factors appear to be instrumental in withdrawal decisions, such as management of external resources (time and family responsibilities) for women. The results suggest that students would benefit from university support services to acquire learning strategies that improve perseverance. Lastly, in-class learning activities that help bolster grades could decrease student withdrawal rates.     

城市土地利用碳排放系统动力学仿真研究——以武汉市为例

研究目的:从系统角度分析土地、人口、社会、经济、能源对碳排放的影响作用,并对武汉市2017—2030年不同政策情景下的土地利用碳排放进行模拟,为其低碳发展战略和低碳土地利用规划提供决策依据。研究方法:系统动力学方法。研究结果:(1)建立的城市土地利用碳排放系统动力学模型是有效的;(2)按照目前的发展趋势,武汉市的碳排放总量将保持逐年攀升的趋势;(3)经济的快速发展对武汉市土地利用碳排放量的增加具有显著的影响作用;(4)调整土地利用结构、调整产业结构以及提高能源利用效率都能够有效的减少武汉市土地利用碳排放量,其中调整土地利用结构和调整产业结构的作用效果相对来说更加明显。研究结论:转变经济增长方式、升级产业结构、调整土地利用结构和积极研发先进的低碳科学技术是武汉市低碳发展的重要途径。     

试论我国行业管理法的地位与体系

行业管理法是经济法体系中的一项法律，但是从宏观和微观的分类上行业管理法既不属于宏观经济调控法，也不属于微观的市场规制法，从其功能上来说行业管理法属于调整中观管理的经济法，行业管理法体系包含行业管理基本法、行业管理部门规章以及行业协会的自治规范等内容，具有指导思想和制度规范的立法，行业管理法对于促进行业领域的正常运行具有重要的意义。行业管理法与产业政策法规具有密切的关系，两者之间相辅相成，在国家的产业发展中共同发挥着指引和规范作用，研究行业管理法的地位和体系离不开产业政策法的分析介绍。笔者在本文中对行业管理法的地位和重要作用进行了分析，对行业管理法的体系内容也进行了详细的阐述，旨在通过本文的研究让更多人的认识到行业管理法，从而促进行业管理法作用的有效发挥。     

国有部门与非国有部门的工资差异及影响因素研究

基于CGSS数据，利用Heckman样本选择模型对中国国有部门与非国有部门的工资差异和影响因素进行系统研究。回归结果显示，国有部门员工的教育收益率高于非国有部门，教育收益率与学历水平呈现正相关关系，与非国有部门相比，国有部门中大学本科及以上学历员工的教育收益率更高。工资差异分解结果表明，两部门全样本工资差异中市场歧视占比高于特征差异占比，与全样本相比，大学本科及以上学历员工的工资总差异和特征差异占比更高，系数差异占比更低，说明高学历群体中部门间工资差异更为明显，而且两部门中仍存在较严重的劳动力市场分割和就业歧视问题。因此，政府应努力消除劳动力的流动性障碍，深化国有部门市场化改革，制定更为合理的工资机制，以促进中国经济的持续健康稳定增长。     

Currency crisis early warning systems: Why they should be dynamic

Traditionally, financial crisis Early Warning Systems (EWSs) have relied on macroeconomic leading indicators when forecasting the occurrence of such events. This paper extends such discrete-choice EWSs by taking the persistence of the crisis phenomenon into account. The dynamic logit EWS is estimated using an exact maximum likelihood estimation method in both a country-by-country and a panel framework. The forecasting abilities of this model are then scrutinized using an evaluation methodology which was designed recently, specifically for EWSs. When used for predicting currency crises for 16 countries, this new EWS turns out to exhibit significantly better predictive abilities than the existing static one, both in- and out-of-sample, thus supporting the use of dynamic specifications for EWSs for financial crises.