An optimization approach to strategic sourcing: A case study of the United States Air Force

The DoD annually procures billions of dollars worth of systems, supplies, and services in support of the national military strategy. Faced with budget cuts and other resource constraints, the DoD must transform its procurement process to ensure cost-effective sourcing of critical supplies and services. One aspect of current transformation in the DoD is the use of a strategic sourcing approach for the procurement of services at military installations. Using the Air Force's strategic sourcing process as our context, we developed an optimization model for selecting a set of proposals from among multiple offerors for services to be performed at multiple installations. The selection achieves the most favorable objective by balancing the confidence level in an offeror's past performance with the cost of services to the Air Force. The research findings, which are based on a realistic scenario, demonstrate improvements over the current sourcing process in both overall performance and cost.     

Measurement of Variables Involved in the Design of a Training Study: Practical Experience Undertaken in a Sports Organisation

This article describes the process for preparing a survey, which will be used to measure relevant variables, which are involved in a study of training needs in a Spanish sports organisation. The variables which have been considered are: problems and difficulties in carrying work of specific positions; “strong points” in carrying out this work; usefulness of the training received in facing and solving the above-mentioned problems and difficulties; usefulness of the training received in acquiring and strengthening these “strong points” in carrying out work; opinion and suggestions with respect to future training. Due to the applied nature of the study, a data collection methodology was designed which was based on interviews and group discussions with a representative sample of workers. Finally, the predictive capacity of perception, which workers have, of their motivation at work was clearly shown in order to then identify different attitude and conduct patterns.     

Key Sectors,Industrial Clustering and Multivariate Outliers

In this paper a reflection is made on the problems that can arise in key sector analysis and industrial clustering, due to the usual presence of outliers when using multidimensional data related to the sectors in an input–output table. Multidimensional outliers are considered as being not only linked to the low number of clusters usually observed in this kind of study, but probably causing invalid results in most of the works involving multivariate statistical techniques, such as cluster and factor analysis. Actually, by comparing the key sectors of the Spanish economy obtained in Díaz et al. (2006) Díaz, B., Moniche, L. and Morillas, A. 2006. A fuzzy clustering approach to the key sectors of the Spanish economy. Economic Systems Research, 18: 299–318. [Taylor & Francis Online] [Google Scholar] to the ones we get taking into account the problem the outliers pose, one can realize they greatly distort the results. On the other hand, it is shown that identification of outliers can be considered as a good and new procedure to help select the most important sectors in an economy.     

An empirical approach to the organisational determinants of spin-off creation in European universities

Given the importance in recent years of the phenomenon of academic entrepreneurship in European universities, knowledge about determinants and performance of this technology transfer mechanism may have important managerial and policy implications. Applying the resource-based view at universities, we have tested the influence of five bundles of resources and capabilities on spin-off activity rates as well as on the performance of new spin-offs in a sample of seven European universities. These five bundles are: technology transfer policies and strategies; human capital; stock of technology; resources and capabilities of technology transfer offices; and support measures for academic entrepreneurship. Our results show that excellence of human capital and the presence of university-based financial support measures are strongly associated with both spin-off activity and performance. Another interesting finding is related to the availability of university-based non-economic support measures (training, counselling, etc.), which have no influence on spin-off activity but are significantly associated with performance of new spin-offs. We also discuss some interesting relationships between explanatory variables.     

Social norms and recognition in social fundraising campaigns: The moderating role of self-construal

Developing effective solicitation campaigns has become a priority for nonprofit organizations to raise funds. To do so, they have begun to introduce social information and recognition mechanisms in their campaigns to encourage donations, yet our current understanding of the effectiveness of these interventions is limited. This study intends to contribute to a better understanding of the effectiveness of these campaigns by investigating the role played by social norms, recognition, and their interplay in charitable giving. In addition, the study also investigates the extent to which these effects are moderated by self-construal, an important individual psychological trait. This empirical investigation conducted an experimental design between subjects on a sample of 261 participants. A two-stage correction approach was used to estimate two dependent variables. The effectiveness of social norms and recognition varies depending on the decision in play (whether to donate, or how much to donate) as well as on an individual's self-construal (independent or interdependent). Strategies that combine several of these mechanisms should take into account their objective, that is, whether it is focused on boosting symbolic support or on incentivizing significant contributions. This article contributes by demonstrating that the type of social norm and the type of recognition matter, as they produce significant different effects on both the donation decision and the donation amount.     

An analysis of the construct “involvement” in consumer behaviour

The aim of this paper is to analyse the construct involvement. Specifically, the present work extends the sphere of study of the construct involvement at brand level, applying it to Denominations of Origin (D.O.s). Hence, after an overview of the concept, it suggests a cognitive approach to the measurement of involvement. It proposes as indicators the number of values associated with this designation, the centrality of these values and the intensity of the association. In this delimitation of the concept, a model is presented that is set within the framework of an analysis of the decision-making process adopted by consumers when purchasing wine. This postulates that temporary involvement with a D.O. has explanatory power, as does the direct effect of the regular outcomes of a permanent involvement with such a designation on the process in question. In addition, a correlation is proposed between the state of temporary involvement with a D.O. and the continuing consequences of a permanent involvement with this designation.     

An additive property of weak records from geometric distributions

Let $\{W_m\}{_{m\ge 1}}$ be the sequence of weak records from a discrete parent random variable, $X$ , supported on the non-negative integers. We obtain a new characterization of geometric distributions based on an additive property of weak records: $X$ follows a geometric distribution if and only if for certain integers, $n,\, s\ge 1, W_{n+s}\stackrel{d}{=}W_n+W^{\prime }_s$ , with $W^{\prime }_s$ independent of $W_n$ and $W^{\prime }_s\stackrel{d}{=} W_s$ .     

Entrepreneurial dynamics of the self-employed and of firms: a comparison of determinants using Spanish data

Entrepreneurship is viewed at either an individual level (self-employment), or a firm level (firms’ creation) phenomenon. We also observe the self-employed and firms that hire employees and grow, and others that do not. This paper theorizes occupational and firm-creation decisions and uses Spanish data on industry, region and time to compare entrepreneurial indicators based on official statistics of the number of self-employed individuals and of the number of firms, both with and without employees. The results show that there are important differences in the patterns of the determinants of growth rates in the self-employed and in firms and, within each of them, between those that hire employees and those that do not. We establish sound arguments to recommend the highest level of disaggregation possible in entrepreneurship studies.     

Economic Growth and Convergence of EU Member States: An Empirical Investigation

The aim of this article is to construct a European production frontier using deterministic methods, and to break down growth and convergence during the period 1980–2001. The results show that EU growth is primarily driven by physical and human capital accumulation, the contribution of which is essential for the cohesion of European countries. We find capital accumulation and efficiency change to be important convergence factors within the EU, while technical change has worked against it. The approach used has also enabled us to analyze the differences in growth performance of Member States and highlight the role of human and public capital, supporting the European cohesion and development policies carried out in this period.     

The cyclicality of consumption,wages and employment of the public sector in the euro area

This study empirically examines the business cycle behaviour of public consumption and its main components, the public wage bill (including its breakdown into compensation per employee and public employment) and intermediate consumption, in the euro area aggregate, euro area countries and a group of selected non-euro area Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries (Denmark, Sweden, the UK, Japan and the US). It looks across a large number of variables and methods, using annual data from 1960 to 2005. It finds robust evidence supporting that public consumption, wages and employment co-move with the business cycle in a pro-cyclical manner with 1–2 year lags, notably for the euro area aggregate and euro area countries. The findings reflect mainly the correlation between cyclical developments, but also point to an important role of pro-cyclical discretionary fiscal policies.