Technological capability assessment of a firm in the electricity sector

The importance of technological capability enhancement in today's highly competitive and demanding business environment is well accepted. This paper proposes a methodology to assess the elements of strategic, tactical and supplementary capabilities, all of which together constitute the technological capability of a firm. In addition, the methodology includes the assessment of the steering capability of the firm in its analytical framework. The proposed methodology comprises five steps: identification of value addition stages performed by a firm; determination of technological capabilities needed at these stages; development of indicators for assessing the identified technological capabilities; benchmarking the capabilities assessed with a state-of-the-art firm; and analysis of the reasons for the technological capability gap between the firm being studied and the state-of-the-art firm.The development of the indicators is illustrated using a firm from the electricity sector. Some suggestions are then made as to how the assessment exercise can be used for technological capability enhancement planning. Special attention is paid to specific external and internal factors that can influence technological capability enhancement. Policy makers are often interested in examining the benefits and disbenefits of assessment exercises such as the one proposed in this paper. This aspect is also addressed briefly and some suggestions are made as to how problems, that could arise out of the findings of the assessment exercises, may be managed.     

Rank tests for testing randomness of a regression coefficient in a linear regression model

We propose a class of nonparametric tests for testing non-stochasticity of the regression parameterβ in the regression modely _i =βx _i +ɛ _i ,i=1, ...,n. We prove that the test statistics are asymptotically normally distributed both underH ₀ and under contiguous alternatives. The asymptotic relative efficiencies (in the Pitman sense) with respect to the best parametric test have also been computed and they are quite high. Some simulation studies are carried out to illustrate the results. Research was supported by the University Grants Commission, India.     

ON URBAN RE-ARRANGEMENTS: A Suite in Five Movements

This movement introduces the ethos of the collective project: its conceptual and practical preoccupations. It focuses on our concern with urban processes on the cusp of change, in the midst of being re-arranged, and thus homes in on the various polyrhythms of intersections, how things come together and diverge, how possibilities open and close in urban contexts of continuously shifting horizons.