A Comprehensive Framework for Sustainable Project Portfolio Selection Based on Structural Equation Modeling

Project selection problems are inherently complex problems with multiple and often conflicting objectives. The complexity of project selection problems is due to the high number of projects from which a subset (portfolio) has to be chosen. Various analytical methods, ranging from the simple weighted sum to complex mathematical programming have been proposed to solving these problems. We propose an integrated approach for strategic and sustainable project portfolio selection, which is composed of two distinct but interrelated modules. In the first module, we use the strategic planning and sustainability concepts to select a set of promising projects. In the second module, we use a project portfolio selection procedure to choose among the promising projects identified in the first module. A structural equation model is used to analyze and explain the relationships among different factors in the proposed framework. More specifically, we investigate the effects of: (1) strategic level performance on sustainability, post‐implementation, and overall performance; (2) implementation performance on post‐implementation and overall performance; (3) portfolio selection performance on implementation and overall performance; and (4) post‐implementation performance on overall performance. A case study in investment banking is presented to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed model and exhibit the efficacy of the procedures and algorithms.     

A Self-regulating Information Acquisition Algorithm for Preventing Choice Regret in Multi-perspective Decision Making

In a world filled with an increasing number of choices people must carefully select the information they acquire in order to make sound decisions that they will not regret in the future. This ranges from everyday life decisions to those made by experts in the business world. The authors introduce a novel information acquisition algorithm based on the value that information has when preventing a decision maker from regretting his or her current decision. The main features of the model include the capacity to account for different risk attitudes of the decision maker as well as his or her forward-looking behavior, the ability to assess choice objects (projects or products) defined by multiple characteristics and a self-regulation mechanism for the information acquisition process, even in the absence of information acquisition costs. The main properties of the algorithm are examined numerically.     

Sequencing R&D decisions in a two-period duopoly with spillovers

Summary. We compare simultaneous versus sequential moves in R&;D decisions within an asymmetric R&;D/Cournot model with linear demand (for differentiated products), general R&;D costs, and spillovers. Simultaneous play and sequential play (with and without a specified leader) can emerge as appropriate formulations, depending on the ratios of spillover rate over demand cross-slope, but not on R&;D efficiency. When at least one ratio is above 1/2, a sequential solution mitigates competition and leads to higher profits for each firm, and to higher social welfare. When uniquely specified, the stronger firm emerges as the R&;D first-mover.     

Optimal strategic alliance in multi-echelon supply chains with open innovation

We propose a game-theoretic approach to examine several possible coalition strategies in a four-echelon supply chain consisting of a supplier, manufacturer, wholesaler, and retailer. A solitude model is used to probe the role of learning in quality improvements, and experimental design is conducted to evaluate all possible supply chain coalition strategies between echelons. The novelty of this study is the comprehensive evaluation of knowledge-sharing strategies in collaborative supply chains. The results confirm that the Delta model with a coalition among a supplier, manufacturer, and retailer is the best strategy.     

Scale functions in equilibrium selection games

We present here an evolutionary game model, and address the issue of equilibrium selection working with the scale function of a diffusion process describing the dynamics of population processes with mutation modeled as white noise. This model is the same as the one in Foster and Young (1990) but with a different interpretation at the boundaries and with different mutation modelings. First, we justifiably assume that the boundaries of the solution of the stochastic differential equation are absorbing so that the first boundary of the interval [0,1] hit will determine the equilibrium selected. Then, working with the scale function, we obtain for 2×2 symmetric games and different mutation parameters, some new and interesting equilibrium selection results. The aim of this article is to describe another method of approach in evolutionary games with mutation which we believe will prove to be very useful in studying more general normal form games and different mutation modelings.     

An application of an integrated ANP–QFD framework for sustainable supplier selection

This study provides a novel integrated multi-criteria decision-making approach to sustainable supplier selection problems. Despite the large supply chain management literature on green performance measurement, the need for a systematic analysis of how specific sustainable variables develop and affect each other remains mostly overlooked. The proposed integrated framework allows for such an analysis. By combining analytic network process and quality function deployment, our model identifies a clear hierarchical structure for all the relevant sustainable factors and sub-factors while weighting the decision criteria based on the importance given to customer requirements. Finally, suppliers are ranked using a multi-objective optimisation procedure based on ratio analysis and weighted aggregated sum product assessment. The proposed framework is used to analyse a case study of a dairy company, but it can be easily implemented for supplier selection by any other company with similar features.     

A feasibility study of stateful automaton packet inspection for streaming application detection systems

The rapid development of the internet has brought huge benefits and social impacts; however, internet security has also become a great problem for users, since traditional approaches to packet classification cannot achieve satisfactory detection performance due to their low accuracy and efficiency. In this paper, a new stateful packet inspection method is introduced, which can be embedded in the network gateway and used by a streaming application detection system. This new detection method leverages the inexact automaton approach, using part of the header field and part of the application layer data of a packet. Based on this approach, an advanced detection system is proposed for streaming applications. The workflow of the system involves two stages: the training stage and the detection stage. In the training stage, the system initially captures characteristic patterns from a set of application packet flows. After this training is completed, the detection stage allows the user to detect the target application by capturing new application flows. This new detection approach is also evaluated using experimental analysis; the results of this analysis show that this new approach not only simplifies the management of the state detection system, but also improves the accuracy of data flow detection, making it feasible for real-world network applications.     

Innovation dynamics and labor force restructuring with asymmetrically developed national innovation systems

The concept of National Innovation System (NIS) has gained a great deal of intellectual and practical attention over the past three decades. We present an endogenous growth model where the NIS of a country determines its accumulation of technological knowledge and the arrival rate of innovations depends on the distance from the technological frontier to the current technological development level (TDL) of the country. We show how, even within an ideal common market environment and despite the compensatory mechanism provided by migration and the advantage of backwardness enjoyed by the laggard countries, differences in TDLs among countries foster the economic stagnation of technological laggards. That is, the structural consequences derived from technological underdevelopment are persistent and not simply due to the depreciation of human capital, but to the absence of innovation incentives that follows. Numerical simulations and an empirical analysis are performed to illustrate the main results and relate them to the current European common market setting and the innovation policies of its members.