LOGISTICS SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES FOR SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

Despite the growing interest in supply chain management (SCM), there is little literature on the abilities practicing logisticians need to work in a SCM world. This paper studies these SCM abilities using two complementary methods: survey research and qualitative research interviews (case studies). The surveys yielded importance ratings of 45 SCM skill areas and a three‐factor skill model (interpersonal/managerial, quantitative/technological, and SCM core). Teamwork emerged as the skill area rated most important for SCM. Moreover, the case studies discovered additional critical skill areas for SCM such as gathering and sharing information. The interviews also enabled deeper understanding of skills within organizational contexts.     

Marx's Theory of Ground Rent: A Critical Assessment

This critical essay provides the reader with an up-to-date assessmentof Marx's relatively neglected theory of absolute ground rentby bringing together in a coherent manner his scattered observationsand arguments contained primarily in Capital, Vol. III and Theoriesof Surplus Value, Vol. II. It also reviews the extant secondaryliterature which suggests that within Marx's theory of rentis an embryonic theory of monopoly from which scholars can drawimportant insights into the history of economic thought andthe workings of mature capitalism. The paper is organized asfollows. After an introductory section, Section II providesthe reader with an overview of Marx's theory of differentialrent and compares it to that of Ricardo, particularly Marx'sdiscussion of differential rent II and whether nature is productiveof exchange value. Section III discusses Marx's theory of absoluterent in light of recent criticisms by prominent scholars andsuggests that what determines whether rent is paid on the marginalland is not technical backwardness or lower productivity oflabor per se, but a social relation, viz., the monopoly createdby the private ownership of land. The last section summarizesthe main arguments and suggests some avenues for future research.     

Cost-utility analysis of the rehabilitation of patients with musculoskeletal problems

The objective of this study is to discuss the rehabilitation of patients in primary health care with problems in the musculoskeletal system from a socioeconomic perspective. A trial with coordinated rehabilitation in primary health care is compared with traditional rehabilitation. This trial, performed in Sweden in 1994, was a two-year prospective and comparative study of consecutively included patients with long-term illnesses due musculoskeletal problems (810 observations). A cost-utility analysis shows that the new rehabilitation program in primary health care is a cost-minimization program for society. There is no significant difference in the quality of life between the trial and control groups. The total cost is lower for rehabilitation in primary health care than for traditional rehabilitation (6 percent). The indirect costs are higher than the direct health care costs (60 percent), and payments from social insurance increased by 8 percent. The health economic results support rehabilitation in primary health care but also points out that this type of rehabilitation can be further improved.     

Science and technology forecasting today: Features of its methodology and object

The paper examines methodological and subject aspects of some problem questions that arise in organizing and technologization a long-term forecast procedure. It looks at the basic elements of the methodology and technique of a long-term forecast performed during the development of the Concept for Long-term Socioeconomic Development of the Russian Federation. Key conditions for technology application in the framework of two possible scenarios of Russian economic growth, primary-and-energy and innovation-active, are analyzed.     

Risk and concentration in payment and securities settlement systems

What drives the intraday patterns of settlement in payment and securities settlement systems? Using a model of the strategic interaction of participants in these systems to capture some stylized facts about the Federal Reserve's Fedwire funds and securities systems, this paper identifies three factors that influence a participant's decision on when to send transactions intraday: cost of intraday liquidity, extent of settlement risk, and system design. With these factors, the model can make predictions regarding the impact of policy on the concentration of transactions, amount of intraday overdrafts, central bank credit exposure, costs to system participants, and other risks.     

Aiding self‐employed car‐washers in the informal sector in Durban

In the past year, the South African Government has committed itself to ‘developing’ the informal sector as a strategy to ease the unemployment crisis and to aid the underemployed. In this paper, the author examines both the lives of self‐employed car‐washers and car‐washing as an activity within the informal sector. He argues that many ‘marginalised’ people who eke out a subsistence in the lower echelons of the informal sector in South Africa regard themselves as lumpenproletariat (or ‘wage‐labourers‐in‐waiting') and not dynamic entrepreneurs. These people expect the Government to intervene in the process of their transition to proletarianism. Further, activities such as car‐washing offer no prospects for self‐advancement.