A scheduling model of logistics service supply chain based on the mass customization service and uncertainty of FLSP’s operation time

Building on previous research, this paper establishes a new multi-objective program scheduling model of Logistics service supply chain that considers the uncertainty of operation time for functional logistics service providers (FLSPs) in a mass customization service environment. This model aims to minimize total scheduling costs, minimize the difference between the scheduled and actual time of each service process, and maximize the average satisfaction of FLSPs. Considering the differences in target priority, the goal programming method is applied to solve the model hierarchically. In addition, the effects of scheduling parameters on scheduling objectives are provided after numerical analysis.     

Optimal timing for annuitization,based on jump diffusion fund and stochastic mortality

Optimal timing for annuitization is developed along three approaches. Firstly, the mutual fund in which the individual invests before annuitization is modeled by a jump diffusion process. Secondly, instead of maximizing an economic utility, the stopping time is used to maximize the market value of future cash-flows. Thirdly, a solution is proposed in terms of Expected Present Value operators: this shows that the non-annuitization (or continuation) region is either delimited by a lower or upper boundary, in the domain time-assets return. The necessary conditions are given under which these mutually exclusive boundaries exist. Further, a method is proposed to compute the probability of annuitization. Finally, a case study is presented where the mutual fund is fitted to the S&P500 and mortality is modeled by a Gompertz Makeham law with several real scenarios being discussed.     

A Sense of Displacement: Long‐time Residents' Feelings of Displacement in Gentrifying Bushwick,New York

This article is a contribution to reinforcing our understanding of gentrification and displacement as neighborhood expressions of inequality. It explores the experiences of gentrification of lower‐income, long‐time residents in the gentrifying neighborhood of Bushwick, Brooklyn, New York City. The focus is on components of displacement beyond the traditional emphasis on outmigration. In particular, the article pinpoints the emotional, affective, psychological reactions of long‐time residents triggered through the encounter with newcomers. While the entry point is the exploration of emotions and affects, the article argues that these feelings are outcomes of material socio‐economic inequalities and, in particular, their powerfully racialized historical foundations, as embodied in the contemporary encounter of long‐time residents with newcomers.     

An optimal multiple stopping approach to infrastructure investment decisions

The energy and material processing industries are traditionally characterized by very large-scale physical capital that is custom-built with long lead times and long lifetimes. However, recent technological advancement in low-cost automation has made possible the parallel operation of large numbers of small-scale and modular production units. Amenable to mass-production, these units can be more rapidly deployed but they are also likely to have a much quicker turnover. Such a paradigm shift motivates the analysis of the combined effect of lead time and lifetime on infrastructure investment decisions. In order to value the underlying real option, we introduce an optimal multiple stopping approach that accounts for operational flexibility, delay induced by lead time, and multiple (finite/infinite) future investment opportunities. We provide an analytical characterization of the firm׳s value function and optimal stopping rule. This leads us to develop an iterative numerical scheme, and examine how the investment decisions depend on lead time and lifetime, as well as other parameters. Furthermore, our model can be used to analyze the critical investment cost that makes small-scale (short lead time, short lifetime) alternatives competitive with traditional large-scale infrastructure.     

Pricing external barrier options in a regime-switching model

External barrier options are two-asset options where the payoff is defined on one asset and the barrier is defined on another asset. In this paper, we derive the Laplace transforms of the prices and deltas for the external single and double barrier options where the underlying asset prices follow a regime-switching model with finite regimes. The derivation is made possible because we can obtain the joint Laplace transform of the first passage time of one asset value and the value of the other asset. Numerical inversion of the Laplace transforms is used to calculate the prices of external barrier options.     

First-time buyers' subjective knowledge and the attribute preferences of Chinese car buyers

This research focuses on the subjective knowledge of first time buyers (FTBs hereafter) and how it influences their preference attributes in a market, more specifically, the emerging Chinese car market. Previous research has considered the difference in the subjective knowledge of a product between owners and non-owners but does not account that some non-owners have stronger intentions to make a purchase. Yet, the impact of the purchase goal of FTBs on their subjective knowledge remains unexplained. This research demonstrates that the effect of the purchase goal on subjective knowledge is moderated by product ownership. Specifically, the findings show that the purchase goal only affects the level of subjective knowledge of FTB but not those of potential repurchasing buyers. Furthermore, when segmenting potential FTBs on the basis of their subjective knowledge, the segment of potential FTBs with higher subjective knowledge display similar attribute preferences to owners, while the preference differences are observed when segmenting potential buyers into owners and non-owners. From a managerial perspective, the findings of the research demonstrate the value of using subjective knowledge for consumer segmentation when targeting car buyers.     

Maximizing the Potential of Contemporary Workplace Monitoring: Techno‐Cultural Developments,Transactive Memory,and Management Planning

Nonintrusive data collection and analysis technologies are increasingly being used to monitor worker behavior in the global workplace. This essay explores the factors that can affect the extent to which management, work teams, and even individuals can benefit from real‐time data monitoring of worker productivity, coordination, and performance. Leveraging organizational information processing and transactive memory systems theories, I develop a theoretical framework for how access to real‐time data can impact team coordination activities and how the implementation of work monitoring technology and analytics might be best approached. Last, I present a set of future research opportunities that supply chain scholars should pursue to examine how the real‐time monitoring of work affects team performance.     

Taking worker productivity to a new level? Electronic Monitoring in homecare—the (re)production of unpaid labour

This article explores the use of Electronic Monitoring (EM) in homecare and its impact on the ratio of paid to unpaid working time. It argues that whilst Zero Hours Contracts (ZHCs) blur the distinction between paid and unpaid labour, the introduction of EM can formalise and regulate the demarcation between the two. In the context of local authority commissioning and constrained budgets, the combination of EM and ZHC's may excise so‐called ‘unproductive’ but available labour from homecare. In particular, the minute‐by‐minute commissioning of care that EM facilitates means the cost of homecare is anchored in the time that worker's spend in client's houses, squeezing out paid travel, time between visits, training and supervision. Paid working time is minimised whilst maximising the use of unpaid time with resulting intensification of care labour.     

Repeated games in continuous time as extensive form games

Extensive form games modeling continuous-time decisions are plagued with problems of nonexistence and nonuniqueness of outcomes. As a “second-best”, the literature has imposed extraneous restrictions on the strategy sets, raising questions on the nature and interpretation of the resulting formal object, and on which restrictions are appropriate. We provide a “first-best” framework, formalizing continuous-time repeated games as extensive form games incorporating natural conditions from the onset. Every strategy profile induces a unique outcome, without any restrictions on the strategy sets. Further, the unrestricted strategy sets are equivalent to a specific class of strategies in a more naïvely specified continuous-time game.