Perspective on the Economic Evolution of the European Union States Under the Impact of the Pandemic and Financial-Economic Crisis

The European Union,which is at the beginning of its term of office for all Member States in the European Parliament,the European Commission,its governing body a...     

Power and the appeal of the deal: how consumers value the control provided by Pay What You Want (PWYW) pricing

The current research offers a number of novel findings regarding how individuals respond to Pay What You Want (PWYW) pricing, a strategy that affords consumers complete control over prices. Two experiments integrate research on consumer power into the PWYW literature to show that PWYW’s influence arises primarily with respect to low-power consumers who use PWYW’s pricing control to regulate their power states. Specifically, PWYW is shown to promote stronger intentions to purchase and to recommend a product than fixed pricing, particularly for low- versus high-power consumers. Supporting the notion that PWYW offers the powerless a platform for power elevation, experiment 2 reveals that the more favorable responses of low-power consumers to PWYW are accompanied by increased feelings of self-reliance. Further suggesting that low-power consumers value the pricing control afforded by PWYW for power regulation, the effects are not attributed to differences in the amounts that low- and high-power consumers are willing to pay under PWYW. In addition to providing a deeper understanding of PWYW pricing, the present work extends the power literature by demonstrating that power restoration can transpire not only from the possession of certain products but also through the pricing mechanism by which such products are obtained.     

Planning the maintenance of simple machinery

In het artikel is een methode beschreven voor het berekenen van de optimale tijden, waarop preventief onderhoud van apparatuur, instrumenten en machines dient te geschieden, indien deze apparatuur, enz. zich na dit preventief onderhoud zowel als na een reparatie tengevolge van een storing gedraagt alsof ze nieuw is. Gemakshalve is dit type apparatuur in de titel "simple machinery" genoemd.
In het eerste deel (paragraaf 1 en 2) wordt beschreven hoe deze optimum tijden afgelezen kunnen worden uit een aantal grafieken. Het tweede deel (paragraaf 3 t/m 9) geeft de theorie en enige additionele informatie, die verkregen kan worden door het uitvoeren van enige eenvoudige berekeningen. Deze informatie maakt het mogelijk de kosten van reparaties, preventief onderhoud, enz. en het verlies van produktieve tijd tussen een machine, waarvan het preventief onderhoudsschema optimaal is te vergelijken met dat van een machine met niet optimaal berekend onderhoudsschema.
Doordat de oorspronkelijke theorie, afkomstig van Morse [1], door de wijze van benadering en afleiding, gegeven in dit artikel eenvoudiger toegankelijk ge-worden is, kan nu in de olie-industrie worden nagegaan, welke onderhoudsschema's verbeterd kunnen worden. Hierbij wordt in gedachten gehouden, dat de theorie slechts toepasbaar is op die apparatuur, die voldoet aan bovenstaande "simple machinery" definitie.
De Appendix geeft de wiskundige afieidingen, gebruikt in het artikel.     

Valuing the Arsenic Contamination of Groundwater in Bangladesh

The use of groundwater in Bangladesh has in the past been promoted as a means of avoiding waterborne diseases associated with the consumption of untreated surface water. Unfortunately, the recent discovery of high levels of naturally occurring arsenic in groundwater in Bangladesh used for drinking purposes has led one international agency to describe the situation as a major public health emergency. Arsenic ingestion is associated with an elevated risk of various cancers. Epidemiological dose–response functions combined with survey estimates of arsenic concentrations in groundwater, and the number of households in Bangladesh relying on groundwater for drinking are used to derive an estimate of annual mortality and morbidity cases attributable to arsenic contamination. The estimated health impacts include 6500 fatal cancers and 2000 non-fatal cancers. Aggregate willingness to pay to avoid these health impacts is estimated to be $2.7 billion annually using purchasing power parity exchange rates. The methodology and results presented in this paper may have application to other countries.     

The Nature of Technological Knowledge: Philosophical Reflections and Educational Consequences

Technological knowledge has a normative component that scientific knowledge does not have. When we have knowledge of a computer, that often comprises normative judgements: it functions well or it does not function well. In knowledge of technical norms, rules and standards as another type of technological knowledge we also find a normative component. This characteristic has consequences for our assessment of knowledge. For scientific knowledge truth is the ultimate condition. For knowledge of norms, rules and standards as a type of technological knowledge this the condition is problematic. They refer to things that do not exist yet, but are still to be designed or made. Nor truth, but effectiveness is the condition here. For technology education the normative component is important. Pupils must learn to make judgements about effectiveness, as this is a prominent characteristic of technological knowledge, that makes it distinct from scientific knowledge. Pupils must also learn to deal with ethical and other values when doing technological project work.     

SME Foreign Direct Investment: An Examination of the Joint Venture Experiences of German and U.K. Small and Medium Sized Firms in China

Joint Ventures (JVs) have become popular vehicles for foreign market servicing, but few studies have focused on the joint venturing activities of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). This article examines the activities of 9 U.K. and 12 German SME joint ventures in China. Based on a questionnaire survey and in-depth case interviews, it reveals that the JVs, though successful, are not without their problems and the experiences are similar to those of large multi-national enterprises. As the key to success is the choice of the joint venture partner, assistance is required to help SMEs identify and select appropriate partners.     

Bepaling van de personeelssterkte op kostenbasis*

Determining the optimal number of staff in a department using a method based on costs. How many men do you appoint in a department of a firm? This number can be determined in an optimal way, if the following data are known: - The number of men required per unit of time (may be given as a stochastic quantity). - The mean probability of absence per man in the department (due to illness, holidays etc.). - Wages per man. - Costs (proceeds), if in one unit of time there are less (more) men available than required. Generally the solution will be obtained by an iterative method. However, when the parameters show a certain behaviour it is possible to find the optimum solution by analytical and graphical means.