A cost function study of the providers of TVA power

This paper examines these TVA power distributor issues: distribution of nonelectric utilities, municipal versus co-operative distributors, effects of high urbanization, marketing and customer recruiting (M&CR), conservation and load management (C&LM) programs, and service area boundary changes. A translog cost model is the basis for the analyses. The conclusions are: (1) TVA distributors experience electrical distribution inefficiencies when they distribute water and electricity, but when they also distribute gas, there are no additional effects; (2) TVA co-operatives enjoy electrical distribution cost advantages over TVA municipals; (3) the TVA municipals that serve the five largest metropolitan areas of the Tennessee River Valley have the highest electrical distribution costs; (4) M&CR efforts benefit TVA distributors; (5) the many TVA-sponsored C&LM programs produce varied fiscal effects for TVA distributors; (6) there are both diseconomies and economies to scale given proportional increases in output components brought about by hypothetical increases in TVA distributor service areas.     

The use of electronic data interchange for supply chain coordination in the food industry

Supply chain management (SCM) is concerned with the relationship between a company and its suppliers and customers. It is characterized by interorganizational coordination: companies working jointly with their customers and suppliers to integrate activities along the supply chain to effectively supply product to customers. More developed SCM is indicated by systematic integration, i.e. standardized and automatic interorganizational interfaces. Information technology (IT) engenders such systematic integration by allowing more efficient and automatic information flow.This research focuses on electronic data interchange (EDI), an important class of IT used for interorganizational information transfers in the supply chain. Data from a survey of the food industry is used to examine the use of EDI with respect to interfirm coordination activities involving suppliers and customers. The influence of demographic characteristics on EDI use is also investigated. The results suggest that firms view EDI as a tool for improving efficiencies rather than as a tool for facilitating supply chain integration. There is also a surprising difference in firms use of EDI with customers vis-à-vis suppliers. Firms tend to be much more accommodating of the desires of their customers than of their suppliers.     

Productivity differences in multiple output industries: An empirical application to electricity distribution

Given that electricity distribution is undertaken via a network, it is expected that costs of production are affected both by the nature of the network and the volume of physical output distributed via the network. This two-dimensional concept of firm size, that is involving network size (number of customers) and the level of physical output (kWh), also corresponds to the distinction between productivity measures of returns to density and returns to scale.This approach has been used to specify a restricted multioutput cost function and to estimate this function for the Norwegian electricity distribution industry through the use of a flexible functional form (translog). The results indicate that no economies of scale are present in the industry even for small plants when measured correctly, but that economics of density are present.     

提升中国电子元器件和集成电路分销商供应链竞争力的管理策略

中国电子分销约占中国电子元器件和集成电路(IC)总体市场需求的60%,也就是说国内电子制造商的采购多数是与分销商打交道。在客户端和供应商之间多出了分销商,好象增加了通路的环节,但实际上增加了价值链的有效性,因为在客户端和供应商之间如果有正确和有效率的信息传递,便能够为整个产业带来双赢。元器件分销商作为供应链的重要组成部分,所起到的作用是延长和连接,将元器件制造商的服务和产品延长到客户端,将电子制造商的真实需求带到元器件厂商面前,将原本断开的链条紧密地连接起来。面对竞争日益激烈的分销市场,如何构建自身的核心优势以及真正满足用户需求是分销商们值得深思的问题。从营销学和供应链理论的角度,结合电子元器件分销市场的行业特点,分析总结了提升元器件分销商供应链竞争力的管理策略。     

Scale efficiencies in US telecommunications: An empirical investigation

In this paper we evaluate scale efficiency patterns of local operating companies in the US telecommunications industry. Scale efficiency is defined as the ability of each company to operate as close to its most productive scale size as possible, and is calculated using data envelopment analysis. The analysis of scale efficiencies is conducted for a set of 39 local operating companies, over six time periods: 1975, 1978, 1981, 1984, 1987 and 1990. During these time periods, several technical and institutional changes took place in the industry which are likely to have had an impact on the abilities of the companies to exploit feasible scale efficiencies, and we find that scale efficiencies have steadily increased over these time periods. We also establish that the Bell operating companies are no different from the independent companies in their ability to be scale efficient; single-state firms are relatively more scale efficient; line digitization, during the periods studied, has not significantly impacted scale efficiency; and firms belonging to multi-company parents are more scale efficient. Additionally, policy regime changes, such as the introduction of intra-LATA toll market competition and incentive regulation schemes, have positively impacted firms' abilities to attain scale efficiency, while micro-segment competition in local markets have, so far, not had the expected impact.     

A MODEL OF SEARCH AND SHOPPING BY HOMOGENEOUS CUSTOMERS WITHOUT PRICE PRECOMMITMENT BY FIRMS

Price setting by firms and search by customers is analyzed, relaxing two basic attributes of most search models: price precommitment and agent heterogeneity. Customers are characterized by individual demand functions for a homogeneous good and can choose to employ a threat to search. Firms noncooperatively make pricing decisions by using the individual demand curves under conditions of constant marginal cost. Firms adopt pricing rules that optimally respond to customer search histories. Bargaining power is endogenously assigned. Firms know their common marginal cost; customers, the cost distribution. The unique separating equilibrium is characterized by a lumpy distribution of prices and by heterogeneous shopping behavior by customers giving rise to "shoppers" and "nonshoppers"     

Devising appropriate service strategies for customers of different value: an integrated assessment model for the banking industry

Customer relationship management seeks to nurture relationships with customers by providing appropriate services for particular customers. Previous studies in this area have tended to examine either: (i) the improvement of service quality or (ii) the identification of customers who will bring the most value (and thus greatest profit). Few studies have attempted to integrate the two aspects of the problem. The present study addresses this deficiency by proposing a comprehensive assessment model that integrates a novel categorization of customers (using a customer pyramid) with a detailed analysis of particular service-quality attributes (using a performance control matrix) to provide more accurate guidance for practitioners in designing specific service-improvement strategies for particular quality attributes and particular customer categories. This integrated assessment model promises to be of particular benefit to service providers whose business resources are limited because it facilitates the design of appropriate service-improvement strategies that are tailored to specific customer groups and the service-quality attributes that are of importance to them.     

南京主要行业用电效率研究

近几年来,随着经济持续增长,南京市各行业对电能的需求日益加剧,特别是一些电力大客户,由于电力消耗基数大,用电效率的提高可以大幅度减少耗电量。本文以统计数据为依据,对南京主要行业用电效率进行研究,对南京市不同行业间用电效率进行横向比较,并结合南京市主要行业与全国同一行业的用电效率的纵向比较,较为全面地测算出南京市主要行业的用电效率。实证分析研究结果表明:化学纤维制造业用电效率远低于其他行业,是南京市今后实施节电措施的主要方向。     

网络分销商的选择与评价研究

分销商是供应链中重要的一个环节,联系着制造商与客户,而网络又是企业不容忽视的一个渠道,所以对网络分销商的选择是企业管理者面临的一个重要决策问题。建立评价指标体系,运用层次分析法对网络分销商进行了定量分析,有助于为企业挑选出合适的网络分销商以构建合作伙伴关系。     

Human resource management in action. The paradox of participation: Lessons from the tennessee valley authority

The three year Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) quality of work life experiment was one of eight large scale projects developed by the American Center for Quality of Work Life and assessed by the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research. The key themes of this research program involved union–management collaboration and employee participation in organizational change. This article presents major outcomes of the experiment, with particular emphasis on the participatory change process that was the central focus at TVA. The implications of participation are discussed in terms of the paradoxes of change, leadership, and process. Based on data from interviews and observation of events throughout the experiment, recommendations are provided for similar quality of work life programs.     

Economies of scale and market power in policing

The objective of this paper is to use a simultaneous equations method for estimating police production and demand to determine whether or not there are economies of scale in policing. In addition, the effect of market power on productivity, using the Herfindahl–Hirschmann Index, is to be measured. The estimation yields the result that there are diseconomies of scale with respect to the amount of crime beyond about 22 000 people in the policing jurisdiction and diseconomies of scale in numbers of police beyond about 36 000 people. Efficiency is also reduced where there is greater market power. This is conjectured to be the public sector equivalent of taking market power profits. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Efficiency and ownership in Swedish electricity retail distribution

This article examines the efficiency of electricity retail distributors in Sweden in a multiple output multiple input framework. Productive efficiency measures are calculated by use of different versions of the non-parametric Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method. Comparisons are made between different types of ownership and between different types of service areas.The study indicates a rather low level of technical efficiency, a high level of scale efficiency in urban service areas, but a fairly low level of scale efficiency in rural areas. The results show no significant differences in efficiency between different types of ownership or economic organization.Paper presented at ORSA/TIMS joint national meeting, Productivity and Global Competition, Philadelphia, October 29–31, 1990.     

Exploitation- and exploration-based innovations: The role of knowledge in inter-firm relationships with distributors

Learning capacity is a critical factor for a firm’s innovation and competitiveness. This study explores the issue of how knowledge in inter-firm relationships with distributors influences manufacturers’ exploitation- and exploration-based innovations and performance. The empirical model examines the effect of three different types of knowledge-related issues in inter-firm relationships: (i) the acquisition of substantial knowledge (about products, technology, or markets) from distributors; (ii) the learning about collaborating with each distributor as the relationship evolves; and (iii) the general firm’s knowledge about managing distributors. A model of learning—innovation—performance is developed and tested in a sample of 201 firms in the food and beverages sector. The results reveal that: (i) knowledge about managing distributors promotes continuous learning from them; (ii) learning to collaborate is critical, as it favours knowledge acquisition and both types of innovations (exploitation- and exploration-based); (iii) learning from distributors weakens firms’ tendency to stress one type of innovation strategy over another; and (iv) knowledge in inter-firm relationships with distributors affects performance in a completely mediated way, that is, through innovation. Theoretical and managerial implications of these findings are discussed in the conclusion of the paper.     

Rural hospital performance and its correlates

The cost, technical, allocative and scale efficiencies of a sample of rural U.S. hospitals are calculated via linear programming models. Tobit analysis is used to assess possible correlates of each of the efficiency measures. A large amount of dispersion in operating efficiency is found within our data set; the majority of the dispersion is due to technical inefficiency. In general, for-profit hospitals are found to outperform not-for-profit and public hospitals. Demand characteristics, quality of care, and the mix of services offered are also found to influence performance.     

Bagging方法在基于日常交易数据解决中小企业的信用评价问题中的应用

关于信用风险评价问题至今已经做了很多研究,各种信用评价模型与方法也已被开发。但是这些模型与方法几乎都是基于财务数据、股票价格或风险调研机构发表的各种调查结果。因为几乎所有的中小企业的财务数据都是非公开的,至今开发的信用评价模型与方法都不免成为无米之炊。为此,本文提出了一个新的途径,只需要根据销售额、顾客付款额、拖欠款额等日常业务处理数据来评价顾客企业的信用度。本文提出一个应用Sagging方法评价顾客信用的系统,其目的在于解决由于异常顾客数比正常顾客要少很多而带来的问题,提高分辨异常顾客的能力。本文所提出的信用评价系统将应用到一个实际企业的信用评价问题中,借此来验证系统的性能和效果。     

浅析战略成本管理在工程项目建设中的应用

传统成本管理关注的是企业内部生产经营的价值耗费,而对企业外部环境的分析则很少考虑;战略管理强调的是知己知彼,也就是说要在开放型、竞争型的市场环境中既关注自己,又要去了解别人;既要知道上游供货商的情况,又要清楚下游客户和经销商的情况,并协调好与他们的关系,同时更需要对竞争对手的基本情况进行分析和研究。对于没有中间商、直接面对供应商和客户的房地产业来说,战略成本管理无疑比传统成本管理具有更大的优势。     

基于SD的供应链牛鞭效应分析研究

建立了一个包括制造商、分销商、批发商、零售商和顾客在内的三阶供应链系统动力学模型,通过vensim软件进行模拟,分析影响牛鞭效应大小的因素,并论证了VMI对牛鞭效应的削弱作用。     

Estimation of market power in the presence of firm level inefficiencies

“The quiet life hypothesis” (QLH) by Hicks (1935) argues that, due to management’s subjective cost of reaching optimal profits, firms use their market power to allow inefficient allocation of resources. Increasing competitive pressure is therefore likely to force management to work harder to reach optimal profits. Another hypothesis, which also relates market power to efficiency is “the efficient structure hypothesis” (ESH) by Demsetz (1973). ESH argues that firms with superior efficiencies or technologies have lower costs and therefore higher profits. These firms are assumed to gain larger market shares which lead to higher concentration. Ignoring the efficiency levels of the firms in a market power model might cause both estimation and interpretation problems. Unfortunately, the literature on market power measurement largely ignores this relationship. In the context of a dynamic setting, we estimate the market power of US airlines in two city-pairs by both allowing inefficiencies of the firms and not allowing inefficiencies of the firms. Using industry level cost data, we estimate the cost function parameters and time-varying efficiencies. An instrumental variables version of the square root Kalman filter is used to estimate time-varying conduct parameters.     

协同学在汽车制造业供应链中的应用综述

协同学原理表明,任何系统的发展都遵循着一种协同学的规律。汽车制造业是个复杂的社会系统,其供应链网络结构由多级汽车供应商、汽车制造商、汽车分销商、零售商以及顾客构成,各环节都显现出一种普遍的协同规律。本文对协同学的应用领域进行了研究,具体针对协同学原理在汽车制造业供应链中各个环节的应用进行相关的介绍,最后指出了协同学更加广阔的应用前景。     

关于武昌区旅游服务体系的建设与保障措施研究

武汉市武昌区旅游资源总量多,但缺乏大手笔旅游规划,旅游服务体系不完善,旅游开发"小、弱、散、差",旅游精品打造不够,旅游发展缺乏后续力,难以实现旅游开发"规模化、品牌化、效益化"的格局,需要解决旅游服务体系的建设与保障措施的问题。