The impact of HR configuration on firm performance in Singapore: a resource-based explanation

This study investigates how the characteristics of a firm's human resource practices and processes (HRPPs) are associated with firm performance. The results found that the extent to which HRPPs can be substituted by information technology or codified in employee manuals, made them easy to be imitated and were therefore associated with an attenuation of the firm's financial performance. On the other hand, constant positive investments into a firm's HRPPs were associated with enhanced firm performance. No significant relationships were found between the embeddedness of HRPPs with information technology or the uniqueness of the firm's HRPPs and firm performance. The results are explained in terms of the resource-based view of the firm.     

Market Structures with Multi-product Firms: Welfare Analysis and Policy Implications

In the real world firms operate in more than one market and consequently can exploit scope economies and/or demand complementarities. Introducing multi-product firms in the picture makes the standard assumption that more competition is always beneficial for social welfare less clear-cut. In this paper we show that a concentrated structure can be socially preferable in the presence of scope economies, whereas a fragmented structure has to be preferred when products are close substitutes. We also identify either analytically or numerically the socially optimal market structure when aggregate output (and then consumer surplus) or total welfare are used as ranking criteria. The analysis is useful for discussing which market structure should be favored by policy makers aimed at introducing competition in sectors which were previously monopolized by state-owned firms. To that respect, our findings point out that not only the level (number of firms) but also the form (type of firms) of competition matters.     

SUBSTITUTION ELASTICITIES IN A CONSTANT ELASTICITY OF SUBSTITUTION FRAMEWORK – EMPIRICAL ESTIMATES USING NONLINEAR LEAST SQUARES

Elasticities are key parameters for any economic analysis. Using the World-Input–Output Database, we estimate substitution elasticities for a three-level nested constant elasticity of substitution KLEM production structure using up to date nonlinear least squares estimation procedures. This allows us for the first time to use one coherent data set for the estimation process. Furthermore, it gives us the opportunity to derive elasticities from the same data which researchers can use to calibrate their models. On the basis of our estimations, we demonstrate that the practice of using Cobb–Douglas or Leontief production functions in economic models must be rejected for the majority of sectors. We provide a comprehensive set of estimated substitution elasticities covering a wide range of sectors. Our results suggest that no substantial change in input substitutability takes place during the time period we consider. Moreover, there is no substantial variation in substitution elasticities across regions.     

A general revealed preference theorem for stochastic demand behavior

Summary. We present a general revealed preference theorem concerning stochastic choice behavior by consumers. We show that, when the consumer spends her entire wealth, the Weak Axiom of Stochastic Revealed Preference due to Bandyopadhyay, Dasgupta, and Pattanaik (1999) is equivalent to a restriction on stochastic demand behavior that we call stochastic substitutability. We also show that the relationship between the Weak Axiom of Revealed Preference and Samuelson's inequality in the deterministic theory, and the main result of Bandyopadhyay, Dasgupta, and Pattanaik (1999) are both special cases of our result.Received: 10 September 2001, Revised: 4 April 2003, JEL Classification Numbers: D11. Correspondence to: Prasanta K. PattanaikOur greatest debt is to the referee of this paper, who made numerous helpful suggestions. We thank Robin Cubitt, Kunal Sengupta and seminar audiences at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Indian Statistical Institute, University of East Anglia, Universidad Carlos III, University of Essex and University of Montreal for their helpful comments. Prasanta K. Pattanaik acknowledges his intellectual debt to Salvador Barbera, Tapas Majumdar and Amartya Sen.     

Increasing marginal impatience and intertemporal substitution

For infinite-horizon models with recursive preferences the condition known as increasing marginal impatience is often adopted, but the condition is not fully understood in the literature. This paper shows that increasing marginal impatience is equivalent to the intuitive property that the substitutability between the consumption levels in two different periods is a decreasing function of the distance between the periods.     

Is the skills mismatch important under skill-biased technological change and imperfect substitutability between immigrants and natives?

This paper contributes to the debate on the benefits and costs of immigration, by evaluating how the mismatch between educational attainment and occupations induced by immigration affects output per worker, the wage premium, and the economy's technological level in OECD host countries. To that end, we use an R&D growth model in which technological knowledge can be directed to either low- or high-skilled labour and thereby drives the dynamics of the key economic variables. There tends to be a significant economic impact of the skills mismatch due to immigration, which amplifies the effects of the mismatch in the native population. Nevertheless, countries with a higher contribution of immigration to the skills mismatch are not necessarily those with the higher contribution in terms of economic effects. Moreover, the size and sign of the latter may vary depending on the assessed economic indicator and from country to country. Cross-country differences regarding the initial level of the high-to low-skilled ratio and the size of its shift due to immigration play a crucial role.     

Product architecture modularity implications for operations economy of green supply chains

The role of product architecture modularity is commonly in increasing product reusability and minimizing waste. This paper designs a decision support system to determine optimal product architecture modularity in closed loop supply chains. The objective is to investigate if remanufacturing and modular upgrading is appropriate at certain periods and in modules. The optimization model is tested under several production yield scenarios in order to determine manufacturing and remanufacturing capacity and production line scheduling under process yield uncertainty. The implications of product architecture modularity for operations economy of green supply chains are discussed in terms of their theoretical and managerial aspects.     

Reprint of “Product architecture modularity implications for operations economy of green supply chains”

The role of product architecture modularity is commonly in increasing product reusability and minimizing waste. This paper designs a decision support system to determine optimal product architecture modularity in closed loop supply chains. The objective is to investigate if remanufacturing and modular upgrading is appropriate at certain periods and in modules. The optimization model is tested under several production yield scenarios in order to determine manufacturing and remanufacturing capacity and production line scheduling under process yield uncertainty. The implications of product architecture modularity for operations economy of green supply chains are discussed in terms of their theoretical and managerial aspects.     

The impact of supply disruption risk on a retailer’s pricing and procurement strategies in the presence of a substitute product

Retailers often experience stockouts when a supplier fails to deliver an order. In this paper, we identify the optimal procurement policy of a multi-product retailer in the presence of possible supply disruptions. Our analysis reveals that, in anticipation of potential supply disruptions, a retailer would typically benefit from ordering more units from a reliable supplier and fewer units from an unreliable one. Furthermore, the total number of units ordered may increase when there is supply disruption risk. As a result, the retailer may overstock some items. However, there are situations in which a retailer would optimally respond to supply uncertainty by consolidating its selling strategy around the unreliable supplier’s product. Under such a strategy, we find the surprising result that the retailer reduces the amount it orders from a reliable supplier as an unreliable seller becomes even less reliable. We also explore how supply disruptions can affect a retailer’s optimal pricing strategy. We find that under certain conditions, it is beneficial for a retailer to lower its price of a substitute product when one supplier fails to deliver its product. Finally, we find that, on net, consumers may benefit from supply uncertainty even though supply disruptions eliminate access to a desirable product.