A multistage stochastic programming model for the New Zealand dairy industry

This paper presents an application of multistage stochastic programming to a production planning problem for Fonterra, a leading company in the New Zealand dairy industry, taking into account uncertain milk supply, price–demand curves and contracting. We describe a model for Fonterra's supply chain, and a model for uncertain milk supply. We then present a multistage stochastic quadratic programming model and a decomposition algorithm to compute an optimal sales policy, which is tested in simulation against a deterministic policy.     

Gas plant problems and the insurance industry

The methodology used by insurance companies in evaluating risk covers both property and casualty insurance. Topics of discussion include: Total Loss Control (How to achieve it, and its relationship to Governmental Regulations), and the importance of equipment design and maintenance in preventing catastrophic losses. This discussion is based on studies of hundreds of large losses over the past twenty-five years.     

New technologies and employment: industry and firm level evidence from Turkey

Here the authors investigate the impact of new technology on employment at country, industry and firm level using evidence from a study of the Turkish chemical and engineering industries. They conclude by attempting to outline policy considerations related to the long term negative impact of technology on employment in developing countries.     

Consensus on strategy formulation and organizational performance: Competitors in a fragmented industry

This paper examines the relationship between organizational performance and consensus (or agreement) within top management teams on company objectives and competitive methods for a sample of nineteen firms competing within a highly fragmented industry—paints and allied products (SIC 2851). It was hypothesized that intense competitive pressures and the resultant low industry profitability would constrain organizational resources and augment the need for consensus on both objectives and methods. However, findings indicate that consensus on either objectives or methods is positively related to organizational performance.     

Testing dynamic oligopolistic interaction: evidence from the semiconductor industry

The objective of this paper is to test whether firms in the dynamic random access memory (DRAM) industry take the intertemporal strategic effect of their contemporaneous output decision on their rivals’ future output decision into account or whether they precommit themselves to a production plan. Learning-by-doing and spillovers are present in this industry and introduce an intertemporal component to firms’ strategies. A simplified version of Jarmin's [RAND J. Econ. 250 (1994) 441] dynamic oligopolistic model is applied to firm-level data. Demand and pricing relations for five DRAM generations are estimated. The empirical results show that firms behave strategically and price–cost margins are likely overestimated in a precommitment specification.     

Quality of working life in the automobile industry: A Canada-UK comparative study

The paper examines the impact of lean production on indicators of the quality of life at work in the automotive industry and finds that it varies across companies and to a lesser extent between countries. The paper explains this by arguing that lean production seeks to impose new employment standards. This is a contested process where management's capacity to shift to new standards and labour's ability to protect its interests vary across workplaces.     

包装工业改革发展大趋势

进入2005年,当再次面对新的一年满怀希望的时候,我们应该拥有一种怎样的心态?在经历了抑制过热的“调控年”之后,中央提出2005年是“改革年”。国家继续宏观调控的核心仍是改革。在今后较长的时期内,随着WTO相关承诺的兑现和市场竞争走向成熟,某些包装企业的“暴利”时代行将结束,企业技术创新的重要性将增加,企业间的并购与整合将进一步加强。新的一年里,中央关于“全球经济一体化”的发展方针,将为包装工业创造无限商机;继续“加大出口力度”将奠定包装企业的稳步前进;解决“三农”问题、农副产品的深加工将带动包装行业的大发展;“循环经济”是世界发展的潮流,将更加引起人们的关注;走“科技创新”之路将是未来包装发展的巨大动力。无须讳言,我国包装行业的现有水平与世界发达国家相比,还有很大差距。知不足而思进取。我们必须看到,正是如此大的差距,也给我们提供了广阔的发展空间,这就是机遇。机遇,稍纵即逝;只有抓住,才能拓宽局面。我们编辑了这组包装工业发展趋势的文章,权作我们编辑部同仁送给读者的“春节大餐”,希望对读者能有所启迪。     

Research notes and communications management and organizational change: A note on the railroad industry

Hypotheses which relate top-level managers' age, years of company and industry service, and education to strategic change are studied with a sample of 855 managers from 27 railroads. Results generally support hypotheses that younger managers and those with less experience are more likely to alter their strategies with changing environmental conditions.     

煤海写春秋——记铜川矿务局下石节煤矿矿长高明秀

相传很久很久以前,古同宫北部有一青一黄两条巨龙沿西南向东北方向游荡,每条龙的嘴里含着一颗宝珠。在飞跃瑶曲上空时,青龙所含的宝珠不慎失落,青龙便从天而降,因未寻到宝珠就在这里安了家,最终坐化成长蛇岭。从此以后,岭上一年四季郁郁葱葱。     

Choice of ownership mode in joint ventures: An event history analysis from the automotive industry

Inter-firm partnerships continue to be a major trend in the B2B context. Firms seek collaborative ventures to enter foreign markets, combine resources, share costs and risks, and build synergies in an increasingly competitive environment. Accordingly, the impacts of firm and host country characteristics on the selection of entry mode have been extensively studied in the literature. Nevertheless, most of these studies regard all entry modes as feasible alternatives for firms, which is rarely the case in practice. Instead, the number of entry modes available to a firm is more likely to be limited by the firm's assets and the context of the host country. As such, these contingencies, coupled with the idiosyncrasies of each entry mode, necessitate more focalized inquiry in the entry mode literature. Drawing from the OLI framework, this study zeroes in on international joint ventures (IJVs) and analyses the impact of ownership and location advantages on firm's decision about the level of control (i.e., internalization level) in an IJV in a given country. Results indicate a positive relationship between the ownership advantages and the level of control. It is also found that firms tend to favor higher control mode where the host country provides better locational advantages.     

New Zealand Teachers' Experiences in Implementing the Technology Curriculum

This paper describes the results of a national study to investigate teachers' experiences in the implementation of the technology curriculum in New Zealand schools from years 1–13. This investigation of the implementation of the technology curriculum is part of a larger study being undertaken nationally in all curriculum areas (National Schools Sampling Study) to explore how effective the curriculum is in practice and how the results can inform future developments. National focus groups, questionnaires and case studies are used to explore how the curriculum is being implemented. The questionnaires were distributed to over 10% of New Zealand schools. The key findings indicate that most primary school teachers are aiming for curriculum coverage, have moderate levels of confidence but are concerned about curriculum overcrowding. Years 7 and 8 teachers are mainly concerned about assessment, whereas secondary school teachers are constrained by existing structures in schools. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Restructuring, productivity and workplace relations: evidence from the textile industry

This study analyses the nature of productivity improvements in the textile industry by focusing on the interplay between micro-electronic technologies and changes in work practices at two hosiery plants and a cotton spinning mill. The findings highlight the uneven impact of technological change on workplace relations and patterns of occupational segregation.     

The Place of Authenticity in Technology in the New Zealand Curriculum

In 1999 Technology in the New Zealand Curriculum became mandatory. It was developed over a period of approximately four years from conception to publication, with wide consultation. It was first published in October 1995. During the three years between publication and gazetting many teachers were involved in professional development. During this time it became obvious that there was confusion amongst teachers about the meaning of `authenticity' in relation to technology programmes. Do technological problems need to be authentic to the students themselves or to the nature of technological practice? Many learning theories have informed the development of this document. Those selected here indicate quite clearly the meaning and context of authenticity with regard to technology education. By involving our students in activity that is authentic to technological practice or real world technology, teachers are able to provide stimulating and relevant learning for students. This was also the indication in recent communication from the Ministry of Education in New Zealand during the 1999 Technology Education New Zealand (TENZ) conference. By giving academic value to technology and developing our teachers in the fields of technological practice we hope our students will influence the economic status of our country in the future.     

Unions and Discriminatory Hiring: Evidence from New Zealand

This study examines the effects of unions on employer compliance with antidiscrimination legislation in New Zealand, using a sample of 227 employers. The results do indicate that unions do reduce discriminatory practices. More specifically, higher levels of unionization do increase the level of employer compliance. However, other union characteristics, such as union size and strike propensity, appeared to have no influence on employer practice.     

Allocation of track capacity: Experimental evidence on the use of priority auctioning in the railway industry

Allocation of track capacity concerns multiple users facing demand indivisibilities, running trains over an inelastic supply of railway tracks. The paper suggests a Vickrey-type mechanism to handle incentive aspects of this technically complex optimisation task. Here, the price for operating a train will correspond to the bids foregone by other operators who are pushed off their preferred routes. The paper reports the results of 11 experimental markets using variations of this mechanism where each market includes up to 10 trading periods, and subjects bid for routes over a highly stylised railway network. The experiments generated solutions that capture 90–100% of potential benefits.     

An estimate of the direct costs of bankruptcy in New Zealand

This paper provides estimates of the direct costs of bankruptcy in New Zealand by analysing 27 corporate receiverships. The analysis indicates that the direct costs of receivership have a median value of 8% of firm value. The evidence also indicates that direct bankruptcy costs are a decreasing function of size.     

Flexible specialisation: some comparative dimensions and evidence from the ceramic tile industry

Research that questions the general validity of flexible specialisation can be supplemented by an example that is, paradoxically, frequently used as a supporting example: ceramic tile production. This article examines some comparative evidence and concludes that support is illusory and all too often based on the same weak original data, while there are actually more robust indications of moves towards classical mass production.     

Telecommunications policy-making in New Zealand during the last two decades

During the last two decades the traditional roles of the major providers of telecommunications services have changed due to internal and external economic, political, social and technological pressures. This paper, using case-study research, describes the ‘change agents’ and formal structures involved in telecommunications policy-making processes, taking note of a move towards, and need for, a coherent national communications policy. It illustrates how decisions have been made and lays the groundwork for a more detailed study of the evolutionary changes in telecommunications policy-making in New Zealand in subsequent years.     

新西兰天然气行业的发展与改革

新西兰政府于1993年启动了对天然气行业的全面改革,以引入市场竞争,改善企业经营的政策环境和市场环境,促进天然气行业的健康发展.改革完成后,配送和零售领域的市场参与者数量增加,各类用户获得了自由选择各自天然气供应商的权力,行业参与者的经营效率和服务质量大大提高.为了缓解天然气储量下降引起的供应减少和价格上涨,新西兰政府从2002年起出台了一系列鼓励天然气勘探开发的政策,包括：投融资优惠政策、适当的资金补贴政策、新的税收和矿区使用费优惠政策,以及加快勘探区块转让的政策等.目前,这些政策产生的推动作用已经显现.新西兰的经验说明：建立健全天然气行业法律框架,引入独立监管机制,是确保行业健康发展的关键;采取政策鼓励措施,促进上游勘探开发和实现气源多元化,是应对天然气资源短缺挑战的基本途径;发挥企业和燃气协会等行业中介组织的作用,是提高行业安全、健康、环保等技术管理水平,降低各类事故风险的有效措施.     

The Egalitarian Leader: A Comparison of Leadership in Australia and New Zealand

This article compares leadership in Australia and New Zealand based on data collected as a part of the GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness) 62-nation culture and leadership project. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to demonstrate that etic (universal) dimensions of Charismatic and Self-Protective leadership are evident in both cultures, but that the dimensions have emic (local) culturally determined manifestations. These emic manifestations were stronger in New Zealand than in Australia. Leadership effectiveness incorporated the negative emic dimension of Bureaucratic leadership (both countries), and the positive emic dimension of Egalitarian leadership in Australia and Team leadership in New Zealand. Both models of leadership nonetheless represent styles of leadership based on egalitarian principles.