Model uncertainty and efficiency measurement in stochastic frontier analysis with generalized errors

Journal of Productivity Analysis - Advanced efficiency measurement methods usually fall within Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA), Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), or their derivatives. Although...     

The assessment of significance of benefits gained from the improvement of quality management systems in Polish organizations

The implementation and improvement of quality management systems conducted according to ISO 9001:2008 standards should bring benefits to any organization. On the basis of research conducted in 753 Polish companies, this publication presents results of analysis concerning the assessment of importance of benefits being a consequence of quality management system. The studies concerning the significance of benefits being a consequence of quality management systems in Polish companies allow claiming that financial benefits and markets ones are the most important for the management team whereas the organizational benefits are of less importance. It leads to neglecting ‘soft’ factors of quality management which are significant in TQM concept and drawing to much attention to so called hard factors- especially financial ones.     

Comments on Longmore's Article

In his recent paper [3], Dean R. Longmore develops a new concept of the Payback Period project evaluation criterion, the so-called Time-Adjusted Payback Period, which is supposed to be NPV-compatible and is, therefore, expected by the author to address the needs of practitioners. In this paper, it is indicated that the formulation of the proposed criterion is mathematically incomplete, and its complete version is presented. It is also shown, using numerical examples, that the criterion devised in [3] does not reflect the true content of its name and constitutes, instead, an artificial profitability index. Although this index, in its complete version, is indeed NPV-compatible, it does not, however, offer any advantages over the NPV.     

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Demographic impacts in central and eastern European countries

All countries undergoing socioeconomic transformation in the central, eastern, and southeastern parts of Europe, regardless of the progress made in systemic transformation, have witnessed significant changes in their population. This paper presents some of these demographic changes and considers the dynamics produced by a drop in reproduction rates and the declining frequency of marriages. The intensity of these changes tended to vary. All of the countries, with the exception of Albania, are characterized by low birth rates approaching nominally the level of death rates. Infant mortality rates in the majority of the countries were relatively high at the beginning of the 1990s compared with their minimum.     

GDPR: A Step Towards a User-centric Internet?

While the potential empowering impact of the GDPR is huge, we argue that the ambivalent attitudes of users towards data protection, as well as the risk of differentiation of legal practice among member states, can seriously limit the real effects of the privacy reform.