Cost control for computers: Applying bread-and-butter principles

During the 1960s, when it became clear that computers would establish a foothold in business, executives were urged to ensure that the new machines were used effectively. Applying EDP to critical decision and problem areas is still important. However, because of skyrocketing EDP costs and staggering investments in equipment and systems, it now pays to become equally concerned about EDP productivity. Unfortunately, many executives shy away because they lack technical expertise. This is not justified because familiar approaches to cost control that work in other functional areas can be successfully applied to EDP. The author describes how the executive can begin to cope with improving EDP efficiency without getting bogged down in a morass of technical details.     

DEBT AND TAXES: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE

The literature currently proposes several capital structure theories whose predictions are generally mutually exclusive. Empirical testing to date has been subject to serious conceptual and econometric problems. The present study, which is carried out on a cross-section of industrial firms, attempts to overcome several deficiencies in earlier studies. Although the results are more consistent with Miller's 1977 hypothesis that the value of the firm is independent of leverage in the absence of leverage-related costs than they are with those theories which predict a value-maximizing optimum debt level, there is significant evidence that the value of the firm may be negatively related to leverage over a broad range of debt usage.     

Representing interval orders by a single real-valued function

Let > be an interval order on a topological space X, and let $\text{x > 1 y}$ if and only if there exists x′ with $\text{x?x′>y}$. Then >1 is a preference relation with transitive indifference, which, under suitable conditions, can be represented by a utility function v of the usual sort. In that case, maximisation of v (subject to contraints) leads to a most preferred point relative to >. Following both the Debreu-Rader and the Arrow-Hahn approaches, we discuss the existence and continuity of such a function v.     

A study of co-authorship and collaborative research among Indian space technologists

The paper sets out the methodology adapted and the sample studied, analyses the productivity of space scientists and engineers in terms of number of papers published with full as well as fractional authorship credits, discusses in detail the pattern of collaboration of space technologists in publishing papers, and lastly, identifies nonintersecting informal communication groups and 'communication stars' based on collaboration.     

Japanese sogo shosha and the U.S. export trading companies

Recent legislation in the U.S. concerning export trading companies has drawn attention to the Japanese general trading companies. While the intent of the ETC Act was not to replicate the sogo shosha model in the U.S., there are some parallels which we can identify. In this paper we examine the evolving forms of the sogo shosha and ETCs, and show how they compete directly in some areas of international trade. Although early performance results for U.S. ETCs are not encouraging, longer term results are expected to improve. To support this expectation, we identify current problems and offer recommendations for improvement. These recommendations are framed in the context of the U.S. business environment, and implications for public policy are assessed.