The joint replenishment and freight consolidation of a warehouse in a supply chain

We have developed joint replenishment and consolidated freight delivery policies for a third party warehouse that handles multiple items, which have deterministic demand rates in a supply chain. Two policies are proposed and mathematical models are developed to obtain the optimal parameters for the proposed policies. Four efficient algorithms are presented to solve the mathematical models for the two policies. The performances of the two policies with the parameters obtained from the proposed algorithms are then compared with the common cycle approach for 1600 randomly generated problems. The results show the robust performance of the proposed algorithm for both policies.     

Solving the Entrepreneurial Puzzle: The Role of Entrepreneurial Interpretation in Opportunity Formation and Related Processes

Opportunity formation plays a central role in the entrepreneurship literature. The two dominant perspectives on this topic (discovery view and creation view) tended to consider search and action as the main mechanisms. Drawing on strategic issue interpretation view and managerial cognition perspective, we argue for the inclusion of a third mechanism (entrepreneurial interpretation). Specifically, we develop the boundary assumptions and testable propositions of an entrepreneurial interpretation model. Then, we show how entrepreneurial interpretation informs both discovery and creation processes. Overall, our theory provides an expanded understanding of how individuals form and decide to exploit opportunities.     

The effect of CEO ownership on the information content of reported earnings

This paper examines the relation between capital market perceptions of earnings quality and CEO equity ownership. Using the earnings response coefficients (ERCs) from annual returns–earnings regressions as a proxy for investor perceptions of earnings quality, we find that ERCs first increase and then decline across higher levels of CEO ownership with an inflection point around 25% ownership. Using analyst behavior as another proxy for the perceptions of financial analysts, we find that earnings forecasts are more accurate as ownership increases, but once ownership levels reach about 25%, accuracy declines with further increases in ownership. Forecast dispersion, forecast revision volatility, and analyst following decline and then increase across increasing levels of CEO ownership. Our results suggest that, for low levels of CEO ownership, earnings are perceived as being more informative about future firm performance as ownership increases. However, once ownership levels are high, earnings are perceived as being less informative with further increases in ownership.     

Top-floor discounts in residential buildings: Evidence from South Korea

This study assesses the phenomenon of resale price discounts for top-floor units of residential buildings, or “top-floor discounts.” Using 1.9 million resale transactions of apartment units from South Korea, we find that top-floor discounts range from 1.3% to 8.3% of resale prices. We hypothesize that top-floor discounts exist because of larger heating/cooling costs for these units relative to those on lower levels, resulting from relatively more extreme variation in indoor temperatures unique to top-floor apartment units. Using a household-level survey data on energy consumption and exploiting variations in weather conditions and roof material across time and regions throughout South Korea, we provide evidence in support of our hypothesis.     

An AHP & Survey for Selecting Workflow Management Systems

The aim of this study was to establish the important criteria to be considered in selecting the workflow solution for a particular organization’s business process reengineering project. The success of a BPR project depends on the attainment of a subtle balance between two conflicting goals—control of the core work processes and empowerment of the individual employees. This balance in turn must differ from industry to industry, due to the difference in the core processes and the organizational structure. In this study, functions of the workflow management system that were considered important for reengineering an organization were structured as an attribute hierarchy according to the analytic hierarchy process model to facilitate the choice between conflicting functions. The attribute hierarchy was evaluated through a survey conducted on representatives of South Korean firms from different industries, the results of which indicate that workflow management systems must be designed to conform to a firm’s particular managerial practices and organizational structure, which differ among industries.© 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Complexity in choice experiments: choice of the status quo alternative and implications for welfare measurement*

We examine the propensity of respondents to choose the status quo (SQ) or current situation alternative as a function of complexity in two separate state‐of‐the‐world choice experiments. Complexity in each choice set was characterized as the number of single and multiple changes in levels of attributes from the current situation and the order of the choice task in the sequence of multiple tasks provided to respondents. We show that increasing complexity leads to increased choice of the SQ and that a respondent’s age and level of education also influenced this choice. We outline the effects of the alternate approaches for incorporating the SQ into welfare measurement. These findings have implications for the design of stated preference experiments, examining passive use values and for empirical analysis leading to welfare measurement.     

Four tigers and the dragon: values differences,similarities, and consensus

This study examines the influence of economic and political factors that contribute to the convergence and/or divergence in value priorities of five East Asian societies—China, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan. We find that political and social-economic factors influence the values orientations of managers within this region. However, economic development level is an insufficient explanation for values convergence without consideration of the societal context and cultural traditions in which that development occurred.

The cross-sectional effect of inflation on corporate investment and employment

This paper examines the cross-sectional effect of inflation on the investment and employment decisions. The paper shows that more heavily capitalized firms tend to have a greater reduction in the capital-labor ratio during an inflationary period. The paper also shows that firms with a higher cost of debt to wage ratios and a larger amount of depreciation shelter tend to use more labor in the inflationary period. Empirical results are generally consistent with these arguments. The authors wish to thank John Anderson, Jim Hodder, two anonymous referees and Cheng F. Lee, the Editor for their helpful comments. All remaining errors are ours.     

THE ECONOMIC WELFARE OF THE AGED AND INCOME SECURITY PROGRAMS*

This paper examines several nonmoney components of economic welfare in both a theoretical and an empirical framework, computes the distributional ranking of aged families arising from such a measure, and subsequently examines the target effectiveness of eleven programs of the U.S. federal government aimed at the aged. While the theoretical discussion attempts to cover all factors contributing to the economic welfare of the aged, the empirical measure is somewhat less comprehensive, excluding the value of nonmarket productive activities and leisure time as well as benefits derived from direct government expenditures and some in-kind transfers and taxes. The study makes use of a subsample of the 1967 Survey of Economic Opportunity data composed of all families with at least one aged member. Specific attention is devoted to dissaving from net worth, in-kind transfers, incidence of taxes, and intrafamily transfers. Government cash and in-kind transfers are found to constitute a third of the total measured economic welfare of the aged, and the impact of each of these programs is examined individually. As might be expected, public assistance and public housing are the programs of most benefit to the aged poor. Medicaid and Medicare are substantially less so, and Social Security is distributionally neutral. Such programs as unemployment insurance are of little benefit to the aged. Tax expenditures, finally, provide no benefits to even the lower half of the distribution.