TECHNICAL NOTE: APPROXIMATION SOLUTION FOR THE INVENTORY MODEL WITH RANDOM PLANNING HORIZON

In 1993, Moon and Yun [8] developed a finite planning horizon economic order quantity (EOQ) model by using the Discounted Cash Flow approach. Chung and Lin [3] then improved Moon and Yun's solution by introducing a pair of closer lower and upper bounds and bisection algorithm. To avoid the unnecessary and time-consuming numerical computations, we propose a novel approach in this paper to calculate the optimal solution of the same problem by using an accurate and efficient approximation solution directly without any further iterative numerical computations such as the bisection algorithm.     

TECHNICAL NOTE: THE FORMULA APPROXIMATION FOR THE OPTIMAL CYCLE TIME OF THE NET PRESENT VALUE

This article proposes the best bounds for e^?x ?l+x subject to some constraints. With these bounds for e^?x ?l+x, the better bounds for the optimal cycle time can be developed such that the bisection algorithm locates the optimal cycle time more accurately. Finally, an example is given to illustrate all results obtained by this article.     

A NOTE ON THE HIERARCHY–TEAM DEBATE

This note explores the debate between proponents of organizational learning who have criticized hierarchy as an obstacle to learning and those who have defended hierarchy as indispensable for large organizations. By considering hierarchy and team as ideal-typical information systems, it is argued that both teams and hierarchies are essential for organizational learning in large organizations. Teams appear to be the key learning units which are indispensable for producing and understanding novel information, and hierarchies are indispensable for processing and storing important learning results. The trade-off between teams and hierarchy can be solved by emphasizing the idea of circularity, involving the ability to switch between teams and hierarchies as complementary information systems in the context of organizational learning.     

A TECHNICAL NOTE ON THE MATHEMATICS OF NON-ANNUAL COMPOUNDING

An expected return-systematic risk (r,β) criterion is used to develop a decision framework for investing in inventory. The direct incorporation of risk in the model in the context of the Capital Asset Pricing Model avoids the shortcoming of exogenous risk specification, which is inherent in both the return on investment and cost minimization criteria commonly employed in inventory management.     

TECHNICAL NOTE A NOTE ON THE COST OF OWNERSHIP,CAPITAL RECOVERY AND DEPRECIATION

This paper develops an after-tax version of the classical capital recovery equation and demonstrates its value as a screening device and as an expository tool to convey conceptual understanding of the cost of ownership, capital recovery and depreciation.     

A NOTE ON THE CHOICE OF COST PARAMETERS IN MACHINING COST MODELS

The calculation of minimum cost cutting speed for machine tools is classic in manufacturing     

MACRS DEPRECIATION WITH A SPREADSHEET FUNCTION: A TEACHING AND PRACTICE NOTE

While Excel? and Quatlro Pro? do not have a function MACRS(cost, class life, year), they do have a variable declining balance function, VDB, that can be used to compute annual MACRS depreciation amounts. A literature search of journals and texts did not find examples using this function nor did it find other shortcut approaches to MACRS calculations. A built-in spreadsheet function is clearly superior to relying on hard coding percentages copied from texts or IRS tables or building tables to calculate MACRS percentages. This article 1) describes the underlying definition of the variable declining balance function (VDB), 2( notes some quirks and errors in other spreadsheet depreciation functions and accompanying explanatory material. 3) shows how VDB can be used to calculate MACRS depreciation, 4) provides an example of its use. and 5) suggests useful further developments.     

TECHNICAL NOTE A MODIFIED EOQ MODEL WITH TEMPORARY SALE PRICE DERIVED WITHOUT DERIVATIVES

Most previous works applied differential calculus to derive optimal solutions for economic ordering policy. The formulations are suggested in this short note to show that optimal solutions can be derived algebraically without using differential calculus to treat the EOQ model with a temporary sale price.     

A NOTE ON BIAS IN CAPITAL BUDGETING INTRODUCED BY STOCHASTIC LIFE

This note extends work by Young and Contreras and by Rosenthal on the present worth of cash flows under uncertain timing. In capital budgeting analysis, the use of the expected life of a project instead of the life distribution of the project biases the estimate of its expected net present value. In most situations the bias results in an overestimate of the expected net present value of the project. When the exact life distribution is unknown, the bias can be approximated by Taylor series expansion. The sensitivity of the bias to the discount rate, to cash flow patterns, and to income taxes is also investigated.