An integrated model for stock replenishment and shipment scheduling under common carrier dispatch costs

We examine a joint inventory replenishment and shipment scheduling problem that arises in the context of a vendor-managed inventory (VMI) arrangement. Since a temporal shipment consolidation policy is being implemented, the inventory requirements at the vendor are affected by the timing and quantity of shipment release. The vendor’s problem is to determine an integrated policy for inventory replenishment and shipment release and to set its parameters. We develop analytical models for computing such integrated policies where it is economical to use common carriage for outbound transportation. We propose algorithmic approaches to set the optimal policy parameter values.     

Evaluating the dynamic employment effects of training programs in East Germany using conditional difference‐in‐differences

This study analyzes the employment effects of training in East Germany. We propose and apply an extension of the widely used conditional difference‐in‐differences estimator. Focusing on transition rates between nonemployment and employment, we take into account that employment is a state‐ and duration‐dependent process. Our results show that using transition rates is more informative than using unconditional employment rates as commonly done in the literature. Moreover, the results indicate that due to the labor market turbulence during the East German transformation process the focus on labor market dynamics is important. Training as a first participation in a program of Active Labor Market Policies shows zero to positive effects both on re‐employment probabilities and on probabilities of remaining employed with notable variation over the different start dates of the program. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Wilderness and cultural tour guides,place identity and sustainable tourism in remote areas

This paper is concerned with understanding the relationship between place identity and sustainable tourism in remote areas. It examines wilderness and cultural tourism guides’ place identity and how those identities are deployed in designing and delivering their activities, then evaluates how these activities engage with the goals of sustainable tourism. A mixed-method approach collected data from textual documents, participant observation and semi-structured interviews. A literature review and early document analysis identified three exemplary Yukon place identity narrative themes: (1) Masculinist Narratives, (2) Narratives of the New Sublime and (3) Narratives of Loss. A narrative framework emerged from initial findings and was refined on an on-going basis throughout the research process, and used iteratively as an analytical tool. Sustainable tourism is understood in relation to geotourism and place-based approaches. Instrumentally, the study provides insight into strategies used by guides to engage with, enhance and broaden goals for and understandings of sustainable tourism. It considers the role of infrastructure and the significance of lifestyle entrepreneurs. Authenticity is engaged to examine how it is operationalized as a crucial dimension of sustainable tourism in remote areas and is used to examine instrumental considerations, as well as a potential tool to “liberate place”.     

Exploring dress,identity and performance in contemporary dance music culture

Electronic dance music and its associated cultures have experienced significant growth and diversification in recent decades, evolving from their origins in the warehouse, acid house and rave ‘scenes’. The myriad of interrelated scenes under the umbrella term ‘dance culture’ provides a range of aesthetic and social event experiences, where participants can experiment with and perform multiple identities. This paper explores the significance of dress and identity within dance culture, drawing on an autoethnographic study which included participant observation, field trips, online research, focus groups and interviews. It investigates performance and presentation of identity within these commodified places, in particular how participants negotiate and traverse various credible roles. It suggests that the performance metaphor is useful in conceptualising event spaces and demonstrates the hugely significant role that dress and identity play in the construction and consumption of these events.     

An axiomatic characterization of the Theil inequality ordering

We axiomatically characterize the Theil ordering of income inequality. In addition to the uncontroversial axioms of anonymity, homogeneity, replication invariance, strong directedness, and a standard continuity property, we appeal to both an independence and a decomposability axioms. These two axioms are ordinal implications of Theil decomposability, the central axiom in previous characterizations of the Theil index. To the best of our knowledge, the present is the first fully ordinal characterization of this index.     

Term structure information and bond strategies

We examine term structure theories by using a novel approach. We form bond investment strategies based on different theories of the term structure in order to determine which strategy performs best. When using a manipulation-proof performance measure, we find that consistent with prior literature, an active strategy that is based on time varying term premiums can indeed form the basis of a successful bond strategy that outperforms an unbiased expectation inspired passive bond buy and hold strategy. This is true, however, for an earlier time period when the literature first made this claim. In a later time period, we find that the passive buy and hold strategy is significantly superior to all active strategies. This result is confirmed by statistical tests and it suggests that once it became known that an active strategy based on time varying term premiums could outperform a passive buy and hold strategy, the markets adjusted and arbitraged away this opportunity. Overall, it appears that the unbiased expectation hypothesis is the most likely explanation of the behaviour of the term structure during more recent times. This is because economically and statistically significant superior performance cannot be achieved if one uses information from the forward curve or the term structure as a guide to adjusting bond portfolios in response to changes in the term premium.     

Risk Allowance in Original Capital Investments*

In engineering economy studies, the total risk capital is often not the original capital investment. If a firm remains profitable in the future, a portion of a completely unsuccessful investment can be recovered (1) through income-tax saving as a result of the depreciation cash flows, and (2) through possible reuse of the idle depreciating facilities.

To allow for income-tax savings, the authors propose that the present worth of the guaranteed depreciation cash flow be discounted at the cost of capital and subtracted from the total initial investment to give a better measure of the risk capital. The operating profit, depreciation-free net income, can then be treated in an appropriate fashion using probabilities or a higher discount rate to account for future uncertainties in forecasting market volume, price, manufacturing costs, etc. The application of this principle has been illustrated through a number of ex amples. The results indicate the value of distinguishing between the depreciation and operational cash flow in evaluating high-risk projects in which the yield criterion is used and in mutually exclusive evaluations in which capital investment and depreciation life vary.

A further reduction in original risk capital investment may be justified if the investment still has alternate use value should the project fail; that is, in addition to the depreciation tax credit from an idle piece of equipment. The application of this principle to a mutually exclusive decision involving a grass roots plant versus a plant located as a part of an integrated facility is illustrated. Interestingly, while most decision-makers tend to be conservative with regard to reducing risk capital, ignoring the reuse potential is inconsistent in this situation as it will tend to favor the investment with the greater risk, i.e., the grass roots location.     

Book Reviews

The importance of the automotive industry in the global economy is widely recognised. The sector has undergone enormous changes in order to prepare for the fierce competition of the 21st century. Among these transformations, the most relevant are those technologies developed for the rapid evolution of activities linked to new designs, new products, and new manufacturing processes and systems. Innovative Japanese carmakers have stimulated international performance comparisons in these activities.
International technology alliances may be one way of gaining access to new competitive technologies. Risks and costs associated with new product development can be shared among the partners and more effective use can be made of manufacturing facilities and production capabilities. Sometimes, an alliance agreement may lead to the deployment of new capabilities. However, in spite of this potential, the literature presents the success rate of alliances at less than 50%.
Our study considers two examples of companies that developed international joint ventures (IJVs): Rover with Honda, and Seat with Volkswagen. Since these two European peripheral companies, Rover and Seat, no longer remain as independent firms, we are interested in identifying the reasons leading to the success or failure of these IJVs as regards the New Product Development (NPD) process. In particular, in both cases the paper looks at the problems of the weaker partner becoming increasingly dependent on the other partner and the need for a well-defined strategy to benefit from IJVs.