Two-stage flowshop earliness and tardiness machine scheduling involving a common due window

This paper studies a non-preemptive two-stage flowshop scheduling problem to minimize the earliness and tardiness under the environment of a common due window. The window size and the window location are considered to be given parameters. The just-in-time problem exists naturally and has many practical applications. The problem is shown to be NP-complete in the strong sense. We develop a branch and bound algorithm and a heuristic to solve the problem. We conduct the computational experiments to test the performances of the algorithms. A strong lower bound is derived for the branch and bound algorithm that can efficiently solve 15 jobs problem for about 5 minutes. The heuristic is shown to be efficient and effective, which can solve the problem of 150 jobs for about 20 seconds and provide near-optimal solution. We justify that the heuristic is an excellent solution approach for large problem instances. We also show that four special cases are either polynomial solvable or NP-complete in the ordinary sense.     

LOGISTICS INNOVATION: A CUSTOMER VALUE‐ORIENTED SOCIAL PROCESS

This paper reports on a qualitative, grounded theory research project conducted in the United States, Sweden, and The United Kingdom designed to explore logistics innovation as perceived by leaders of logistics service provider firms and logistics business functions within product focused firms. Analysis of 33 depth interviews conducted within seven organizations revealed activities that reflect multiple aspects of being innovative, including: (1) setting a stage for innovation; (2) identifying clues to shifts in what customers value; (3) negotiating, clarifying, and reflecting upon insights; and (4) managing inter‐organizational learning.     

TESTING THE NET BUYING PRESSURE HYPOTHESIS DURING THE ASIAN FINANCIAL CRISIS: EVIDENCE FROM HANG SENG INDEX OPTIONS

We investigate net buying pressure in the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index options market during the Asian financial crisis from July 1997 to August 1998. Our findings suggest that during this period, the dramatic changes in volatility overwhelmed the dynamics of supply and demand in the options market. The extremely high realized volatility drove market participants' expectations about future market volatility in the early months of the crisis. Findings during the late‐crisis, pre‐crisis, and post‐crisis periods are consistent with the net buying pressure hypothesis.     

Avoiding Accounting Fixation: Determinants of Cognitive Adaptation to Differences in Accounting Method*

Much research over the last 30 years has provided evidence that individuals display accounting fixation; that is, their cognitive process does not appropriately adapt to cross‐sectional or temporal differences in an accounting method. This paper presents the results of a quasi‐experimental test of the hypothesis that cognitive adaptation to a change in accounting method is an ordinal interactive function of three person characteristics: relevant accounting knowledge, general problem‐solving ability, and intrinsic motivation to appropriately engage in the decision task. Based on a product‐pricing decision task in which participants are provided with product costs reported by two generally employed product‐costing methods (activity‐based costing [ABC] and volume‐based costing), the results show that the majority of participants did not change their cognitive behavior when there was a change in the costing method. Further, those participants who did adapt to the change in accounting method, and thus avoided accounting fixation, did so by debiasing costs reported by volume‐based costing but not by ABC. Finally, these adapters generally exhibited high values for all three of the person characteristics compared with those who did not adapt.     

The Lead-Lag Relation Between Spot and Futures Markets Under Different Short-Selling Regimes

We examine the lead‐lag relation between index futures and the underlying index under three types of short‐selling restrictions on stocks in Hong Kong. Our results indicate that lifting short‐selling restrictions can enhance the informational efficiency of the stock market relative to the index futures. We also investigate the impact of two market characteristics, market conditions and the magnitude of mispricing on the lead‐lag relations under different short‐selling regimes. Our findings suggest that if we remove restrictions, the contemporaneous price relation between the futures and cash markets becomes stronger particularly in the falling market and when the cash market is relatively overpriced.     

Is the proposed East African Monetary Union an optimal currency area? a structural vector autoregression analysis

This paper empirically assesses the suitability of the East African (EA) countries for a regional monetary union by testing for symmetry of the underlying structural shocks. The results indicate that supply and demand shocks are generally asymmetric, which does not lend strong support for forming a currency union in the EA region at the moment. However, the speed and magnitude of adjustment to shocks is similar across the countries. Therefore, further integration of the economies might lead to more favorable conditions for a monetary union. Although evidence in favor of linking an EA currency to an external anchor is weak, such support seems to favor the Euro.     

Schedule jockeying and route swamping: bus markets in Britain need kerb rights

The experience of British bus deregulation has resulted in less on-the-road competition than anticipated, and a high degree of industry concentration We argue that the specific form of deregulation in Britain has created a property rights problem in the cultivation of passenger congregations at the kerb. The result has been schedule jockeying and route swamping . From a property rights perspective, the disappointing results can be seen as a commons problem. A nuanced approach to property rights at bus stops, permitting scheduled service to appropriate its investment in cultivating passenger congregations, and allowing freewheeling jitneys to compete on the route, could bring the benefits that many had expected from deregulation.     

Clinical budgeting: Experimentation in the social sciences: A drama in five acts

Clinical budgeting systems are increasingly being introduced into the British National Health Service. This paper examines in some detail the testing of one particular budgeting system. It discusses the aims, execution and evaluation of the test. The paper is written as a play partly for reasons of clarity and entertainment but also and, more seriously, to reflect recent concerns in the sociology of scientific knowledge whereby attention is drawn to the parallels between analysts' and participants' attempts to render a definitive view of the social world.     

Belief when evidence does not support theory

Marketing has looked to other scientific disciplines to supplement its understanding of motivation. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs theory is frequently uncritically cited in texts, even though most evidence has failed to support its validity. Science requires that theory be supported by empirical facts. Maslow's theory is briefly summarized, along with a review of the related literature. Reasons are given and empirically supported for the continued popularity of Maslow's theory in marketing despite lack of scientific support. A cautionary note for the continued development of marketing theory concludes the presentation. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.