Dasein Versus Design: The Problematics of Turning Making Into Thinking

Building on suggestions from the work of Martin Heidegger, a distinction is made between two ways of being in the world. One is associated with the unplanned particularity and care of Dasein, another with the planning and thinking-out of design; the former is characteristic of a more traditional way of life, the latter of contemporary life. Included are brief etymologies of `Dasein' and `design', along with some reflections on the two-fold history of design of internal structure and surface appearance (that is, of engineering and aesthetic design, respectively). The conclusion sketches out a problematics of engineering design as involving a disengagement from fundamental human experience, and suggests the need to discriminate between authenticity and inauthenticity in the world of design.     

Espoused drum-buffer-rope flow control in serial lines: A comparative study of simulation models

This paper documents an investigation of drum-buffer-rope (DBR) scheduling and flow control methodology in single-product serial production lines. In particular, DBR flow control is reviewed and the importance of correctly representing this type of flow control mechanism in serial lines is discussed. Departures from valid DBR conceptual and simulation modeling are illustrated. It is shown that the model of a previously published paper is a push system not a DBR system, and that related conclusions regarding protective capacity and constraint location are unsupported. Correct modeling of DBR flow control is shown using discrete simulation experiments that compare the DBR model and a similar push model. Suggestions for additional research are offered.     

Toward understanding household preference for consumption characteristics of millet varieties: a case study from western Niger

In this study, we evaluate the preference of consumers in Niger for different tuwo or couscous characteristics using a random utility‐based choice experiment, ordered probit analysis, and tree‐based partitioning. Data were collected through a structured survey administered at four sites. Preferences are estimated for three products (couscous, fermented tuwo, and nonfermented tuwo) made from five pearl millet cutivars. We provide relative valuation for different traits by type of product. Results show that product taste, color, and textural attributes are important, especially for tuwo and couscous. Probit and partitioning results show that taste and color are the first attributes that consumers use to distinguish more preferred millet food products from less preferred millet food products. This should provide some direction for millet breeding programs and food processing of millet.     

Capabilities, innovation and competitive advantage

This special issue was aimed at advancing the literature examining the role of capabilities in innovation-based competitive strategy. Whilst the innovation literature has over the years moved away from its ‘product innovation’ pre-occupation to capture the role of other forms of innovation in value creation, the capability view has progressed from its ‘rigid’ or ‘static’ view to a ‘dynamic’ view in an effort to capture market dynamism. Despite the recent theoretical advancements the dynamic capability view still lacks a strong empirical base. Contributors to the capability literature over the recent years have adopted multiple research methods to capture capabilities that include cross-sectional designs, case studies and longitudinal studies. Within this backdrop, the articles that were selected for this special issue covers both conceptual and empirical approaches to examine the relationship between capabilities and technical and non-technical innovations and performance outcomes. This essay provides a future research agenda to advance this promising research field. It highlights the need for clearer conceptualizations and development of measures of dynamic capabilities, environmental conditions that underpin the development of dynamic capabilities within the firm and research into the much debated relationship between dynamic capabilities and competitive advantage and organizational performance.     

Design von Informationsfeedback in Regelenergiemärkten

Information feedback is a much debated issue on balancing power markets: which information on past auctions should be published and when? The article analyzes advantages and disadvantages of different feedback policies applied to the example of the Swiss balancing power market. Our main conclusion is that the publication of the marginal bid is usually recommendable. This is often not the case for additional information (e.g. extramarginal bids). However, the answer depends on the specific market design and the market structure.     

Integrated production planning with sequence-dependent family setup times

This paper proposes an integrated optimization model of aggregate production planning (APP), family disaggregation planning, and family scheduling problems in hierarchical production planning (HPP) systems considering sequence-dependent family setup times. The model obtains the optimal production plan for each product type and product family in each period, together with the globally optimal production sequence of product families in all planning periods. The proposed model is tested with randomly generated experimental data consistent with what is prevalent in the manufacturing industry and its results are compared with those of the traditional HPP models. Our results show that the integrated model realizes greater cost savings.     

Was Deng Xiaoping Right? An Overview of China's Equity Markets

In the western world, stock markets arose from the search by privately owned companies for capital to build their businesses. Over time, the markets became places where ownership interests and even entire companies were bought and sold. In China, the complete opposite has happened. The markets arose out of the need for capital by bankrupt state‐owned enterprises operating in an economy with no history of private property. Deng Xiaoping, China's last emperor, gave the green light for the stock market experiment in early 1992 more with the hope of encouraging reform and efficiency than from any conviction that stock markets were the next sure thing. Now, after more than 20 years of experimentation with domestic and international listings, it appears evident that stock markets whose primary function is to trade minority interests in government‐controlled companies have not achieved the goal of improving enterprise performance, as China's leaders originally hoped. Instead, the combination of state monopolies with Wall Street expertise and international capital has led to the creation of national companies that represent little more than the incorporation of China's old Soviet‐style industrial ministries. As for the markets, the government's determination to prevent real privatization has produced separate classes of shares that are defined almost entirely by one thing: the shareholder's relationship to the government. And with all aspects of stock market activity regulated, managed, and owned by various state agencies, it is not surprising that non‐state investors have become motivated more by speculative opportunities than by investment fundamentals. But a quarter of a century is a short time in any country's development and, for all their shortcomings, the markets in mainland China and Hong Kong have played a significant role raising capital for China. It may be too early, perhaps, to suggest that China's equity markets have failed to accomplish what they were intended to do.