Six ways to reduce inventory

The purpose of this presentation is to help you reduce the inventory in your operation. We will accomplish that task by discussing six specific methods that companies have used successfully to reduce their inventory. One common attribute of these successes is that they also build teamwork among the people. Every business operation today is concerned with methods to improve customer service. The real trick is to accomplish that task without increasing inventory. We are all concerned with improving our skills at keeping inventory low.     

Nursing home reform: its legislative history and economic impact upon nursing homes

This article presents a legislative history of Subtitle C of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987 (OBRA '87). It articulates the philosophy behind the act and describes the economic and organizational impact on the nursing home industry. Additionally, data from Connecticut nursing homes are analyzed to determine the factors that affect the costs of complying with OBRA.     

IT架构的第三条道路

在IT架构集中还是分散的争论中,混合之路似乎开始受到CIO们的青睐。CIO如何组织你的IT架构?这个问题已经成为了无数激烈论战的主题。近几十年来,各式各样的IT管理方式都曾独领过风骚:在信息化发展的早期,由于IT实施成本高昂、相关专家资源稀缺,集中式IT运营方式是当时企业唯一可行的结构方式;进入20世纪80年代后,由于IT技术成本大幅度下降、专业IT人才大规模涌现,IT公司层出不穷,用于分布式计算的Client/Server软硬件加速了分散管理潮流的发展;此后,呈几何级增长的商用台式机使得企业的雇员们对本地服务器求之若渴,因此更多的企业开始尝试着对部分IT运营采取分散的模式,以适应企业运营单位的需求并缓解IT运营的支出与性能的紧张关系。     

亚洲发展中国家的能源效率与节能：过去的经验,未来趋势及投资需求

本文分析了几个亚洲发展中国家或地区(中国、印度、印度尼西亚、韩国、菲律宾、中国台湾省以及泰国)1980～1994年期间能源效率与节能情况的变化,重点分析了它们所取得的成就和未来的节能潜力。中国是终端能源密度下降最为迅速的国家,但仍是终端能源密度最高的国家。台湾省的终端能源密度也呈持续的下降趋势,这归因于其采取了适当的能源定价政策,即在稳步转变经济结构的同时,取消了对所有能源的价格补贴。亚洲发展中国家未来节能战略总体上是要继续实行和强化现行的节能措施,并进一步寻求实施需求端管理。需求端管理计划的制度化和节能辅助基金的建立是亚洲发展中国家节能潜力在未来得以实现的强有力的推动力。     

Does reputation of sponsors matter in IPO? Evidence from Hong Kong

Contrary to other markets where underwriters perform a combined role of underwriting and sponsoring in an Initial Public Offering (IPO), IPO issuers in Hong Kong must appoint at least one sponsor in addition to the underwriters. The splitting of the single role of underwriters into two separate ones offers an ideal setting to disentangle the effects of the two roles and to examine which of the two roles—sponsor or underwriter—is more important in explaining IPO underpricing and initial volatility in the Hong Kong equity market. Interestingly, our findings provide supportive evidence that the sponsor reputation does matter in an IPO and it is even more significant than the underwriter reputation in explaining the IPO underpricing phenomenon. Given the recent high-tech fervor, our research goes deeper to examine specifically the role of sponsors on high-tech firms, with results indicating that the reliance on sponsors is higher for traditional issuers than for technology firms. We further discover that sponsors and underwriters are playing substitution roles rather than complementary roles. In order to examine the regulatory policy impact, our research also compares the role of IPO sponsors before and after the launch of the new sponsor regulatory regime in 2013. The empirical findings lend support to our argument that after the launch of the new regulations, public awareness of sponsors is raised, respect towards more reputable sponsor increases, and thus, the role of sponsors becomes more important than before.     

Foreign-educated nurses: an overview of migration and credentialing issues

It is important for nursing administrators to understand the migration and credentialing process as they integrate foreign-educated nurses into United States health care systems. Issues and considerations related to migration and credentialing of foreign-educated nurses are summarized.