Improving perishable product inventory management using goal programming

The multiple objectives of perishable product inventory management are examined in this paper. These objectives include: (1) satisfying demand by carrying sufficient inventories, (2) holding down inventory carrying costs, (3) keeping the amount of product spoilage (outdating) at an acceptable level, and (4) maintaining quality by using the product while it is still fresh, and (5) keeping the cost of rotation low. Some of the above objectives are in conflict. Thus, certain redistribution policies may help attain one or more of these objectives to a greater extent. Redistribution involves the transfer of the product from outlets where demand is low to outlets where demand is high. A goal programming model for solving redistribution problems is presented. An example is provided and sensitivity analysis is performed in order to determine when redistribution is advantageous. Applicability of the model is discussed.     

Advertising, Its Determinants, and Market Structure

This study derives a formal model of firm advertising behavior and applies it to the industry level to figure out the relationship between advertising and market structure. The firm advertising model shows that both consumer preference andfirm-specific advertising competence jointly determineprofit-maximizing advertising intensity. At the industry level, advertising intensity is represented multiplicatively by consumer preference and a measure of market structure, which reflects the joint distribution of the levels of advertising competence and market shares among firms. The new market structure measure suggests that those single-dimensional measures of market structure such as seller concentration and the Herfindahl index are inadequate in explaining interindustry differences in advertising intensity, and that the long-debated advertising-concentration relationship differs depending primarily on the appropriability of advertising. An empirical analysis of 426 five-digit Korean manufacturing industries shows that an inverted U-shaped relationship between the Herfindahl index and industry advertising intensity is observed for consumer goods industries but a lazy J-shaped relationship for producer goods industries.     

Evolutionary Characteristics of China＇s Intermediate Manufactures

China's economic development is characterized by progressive integration with international production chains as an assembly producer. Japan and South Korea are the major partners providing intermediate products to China. The present paper analyzes the Chinese intermediate sector's present condition and evolutionary characteristics revealed in bilateral trade with Japan and South Korea. The analysis uses the framework of new trade theory represented by “intra‐industry trade”. Trade statistics from 1997 to 2004 are analyzed using the database published by the OECD. Results show that China's inter‐industrial evolution is characterized by its expanding positioning in the manner of the flying geese development paradigm of Asian countries. Furthermore, intra‐industrial evolution is characterized by a concentration on price competitiveness. The framework and results of the industrial analysis presented in this paper assist in the understanding of China's manufacturing evolution and of the policy‐making decisions taken in the process.     

Asymmetric inflation dynamics: Evidence from quantile regression analysis

This paper applies the regression quantile approach developed by Koenker and Xiao (2004) to investigate the dynamic behavior of inflation in 12 OECD countries. By analyzing the behavior in a wide range of quantiles, this method allows us to quantify the influence of various sizes of shocks that hit the inflation, and is able to capture possible asymmetric adjustment of the inflation towards to its long-run equilibrium. It therefore sheds new lights on the inflation dynamics compared with the conventional unit root methodologies. Our results suggest that generally, the inflation rates are not only mean-reverting but also exhibit asymmetries in their dynamic adjustments, in which large negative shocks tend to induce strong mean reversion, and on the contrary, large positive shocks do not. Policy implications related to the empirical findings are also provided.     

Towards a hybrid model? A systematic review of human resource management research on Chinese state-owned enterprises (1993–2017)

Abstract

Over the past two decades, there has been a proliferation of research on human resource management (HRM) in Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) as a result of the wide-reaching state-sector reform of the late 1980s. This article aims to provide a systematic review of literature on this topic and capture the nature of HRM in Chinese SOEs, both in research and practice. The article draws on 178 studies from 43 English academic journals over a period of 25?years (1993–2017). In analysing this literature and by taking stock of theoretical frameworks, research methods, themes and analysis of academic articles in this area, we have gained a number of insights. The study has found that the research methods used have shifted from qualitative and interpretive methodology toward quantitative and sophisticated modelling. A further insight is that there has been a relatively heavy reliance on institutional theory in the earlier studies reviewed, and since then a switch towards organizational behaviour perspectives. The level of analysis has moved from macro to micro level and thematic foci have become more diverse and complex. We highlight a number of avenues, theoretical and empirical, for future studies in this field.     

Dynamic network design for reverse logistics operations under uncertainty

The design of reverse logistics network has attracted growing attention with the stringent pressures from environmental and social requirements. In general, decisions about reverse logistics network configurations are made on a long-term basis and factors influencing such reverse logistics network design may also vary over time. This paper proposes dynamic location and allocation models to cope with such issues. A two-stage stochastic programming model is further developed by which a deterministic model for multiperiod reverse logistics network design can be extended to account for the uncertainties. A solution approach integrating a recently proposed sampling method with a heuristic algorithm is also proposed in this research. A numerical experiment is presented to demonstrate the significance of the developed stochastic model as well as the efficiency of the proposed solution method.     

Motivations and Use Context in Mobile Tourism Shopping: Applying Contingency and Task–Technology Fit Theories

Mobile tourism shopping is an emerging market, but there is little theoretically based research on the topic. This study investigates the impact of motivations (value, enjoyment, time saving and mobility) on consumer satisfaction by applying contingency and task–technology fit theories in the mobile tourism shopping context. The results show that value and enjoyment have significant effects on satisfaction. Use context is found to have a full mediating role between time saving and satisfaction as well as between mobility and satisfaction. This study offers theoretical and practical contributions to the tourism literature and mobile tourism industry. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The contextual nature of the predictive power of statistically-based quarterly earnings models

We present new empirical evidence on the contextual nature of the predictive power of five statistically-based quarterly earnings expectation models evaluated on a holdout period spanning the twelve quarters from 2000–2002. In marked contrast to extant time-series work, the random walk with drift (RWD) model provides significantly more accurate pooled, one-step-ahead quarterly earnings predictions for a sample of high-technology firms (n = 202). In similar predictive comparisons, the Griffin-Watts (GW) ARIMA model provides significantly more accurate quarterly earnings predictions for a sample of regulated firms (n = 218). Finally, the RWD and GW ARIMA models jointly dominate the other expectation models (i.e., seasonal random walk with drift, the Brown-Rozeff (BR) and Foster (F) ARIMA models) for a default sample of firms (n = 796). We provide supplementary analyses that document the: (1) increased frequency of the number of loss quarters experienced by our sample firms in the holdout period (2000–2002) vis-à-vis the identification period (1990–1999); (2) reduced levels of earnings persistence for our sample firms relative to earnings persistence factors computed by Baginski et al. (2003) during earlier time periods (1970s–1980s); (3) relative impact on the predictive ability of the five expectation models conditioned upon the extent of analyst coverage of sample firms (i.e., no coverage, moderate coverage, and extensive coverage); and (4) sensitivity of predictive performance across subsets of regulated firms with the BR ARIMA model providing the most accurate predictions for utilities (n = 87) while the RWD model is superior for financial institutions (n = 131).

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