Role of search for domain knowledge and architectural knowledge in alliance partner selection

Research Summary: The literature on technological alliances emphasizes that search for knowledge drives alliance formation. However, in conceptualizing technological knowledge, prior work on alliances has not made a distinction between domain knowledge—knowledge that firms possess in distinct technological domains—and architectural knowledge—knowledge that firms possess about how to combine elements from different technological domains. We argue that firms seek partners that are similar in domain knowledge to deepen their knowledge, and partners that are dissimilar in architectural knowledge to broaden their knowledge. Our results indicate that the likelihood of alliance formation increases when two firms are similar in domain knowledge and dissimilar in architectural knowledge. Further, our results show that these effects are positively moderated by the degree of decomposability of a firm's knowledge base. Managerial Summary: In dynamic environments, companies need to continually deepen and broaden their technological knowledge, and they often look for alliance partners who can provide them that knowledge. For knowledge deepening, companies are more likely to form alliances with those companies that have expertise in similar technological fields. For knowledge broadening, they are more likely to form alliances with those companies that have expertise in the same technological fields, but have different recipes for combining knowledge from those fields. Furthermore, a company with a modular knowledge base is more likely to seek a partner that has expertise in similar technological fields or whose recipes for combining knowledge from different technological fields are different from the recipes it has.     

Gender and labor retrenchment in Chinese state owned enterprises: Investigation using firm-level panel data

In the late 1990s, China's state-owned enterprises (SOEs) underwent dramatic labor retrenchment, drawing considerable attention to how women fared relative to men during the retrenchment process. However, almost all the existing studies on the subject rely on individual-level data. In this paper, we study the gender patterns of SOE labor retrenchment using a unique enterprise-level dataset for the period from 1995 to 2001. We find that disproportionately large share of discharge was borne by female workers and that female discharge rates were more sensitive to output growth than male discharge rates. Further, estimating dynamic labor demand equations by gender, we find that female employment was more sensitive to negative output shocks experienced by enterprises than male employment but less sensitive to positive output shocks. Further, we find that sensitivity of female employment to output was greater for reformed than non-reformed enterprises and for male-intensive than female-intensive sectors. These results provide new insights into the gender patterns of employment adjustment of Chinese SOEs to output shocks during the retrenchment period.     

Linked Simulation-Optimization based Dedicated Monitoring Network Design for Unknown Pollutant Source Identification using Dynamic Time Warping Distance

Implementation of monitoring strategy for increasing the efficiency of groundwater pollutant source characterization is often necessary, especially when only inadequate and arbitrary concentration measurement data are initially available. Two main parameters that need to be estimated for efficient and accurate characterization of groundwater pollution sources are: location of the source and the time when the source became active. Complexities involved with the explicit estimation of the time of start and source activity have not been addressed so far in previous studies. The main complexity arises due to the fact that the spatial location and time of activity are inter-related. Therefore, specifying one and solving for the other simplifies the source characterization problem. Hence, in this study, both the source location and time of initiation are treated as unknowns. The developed methodology uses dynamic time warping distance in the linked simulation-optimization model to address some complex issues in designing a monitoring network to efficiently estimate source characteristics including the time of first activity of unknown groundwater source. Performance of the developed methodology is evaluated on illustrative contaminated aquifer. These evaluation results demonstrate the potential use of the developed methodology.     

Statistical Analysis of Long Term Trends of Rainfall During 1901–2002 at Assam,India

Rainfall is a principal element of the hydrological cycle and its variability is important from both the scientific as well as socio-economic point of view. This study presents an analysis based on the precipitation variation in Assam, India over 102 years from 1901 to 2002. Precipitation data from 21 stations have been collected. These data have been analyzed for both annual and seasonal variation. For trend analysis, Mann-Kendell and Sen’s slope estimator test were used. To compare seasonal variations, three seasons of winter, summer and monsoon have been considered. Mean annual precipitation varied from 2,074 mm (at Tinsukia) to 3,538 mm (at North Chahar Hills). The most probable year of change was 1959 in annual precipitation. Time series of the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) depict that near normal occurs in about 68 years out 102 years, and in 2.48 years out of 102 years there was an extreme wet. All these findings can help provide rational regulatory and policy in relation to water resources to maintain the health of the various ecosystems that make up Assam, India.     

Job Satisfaction as a Function of Top Management Support for Ethical Behavior: A Study of Indian Managers

Based on organizational justice theories and cognitive dissonance theories, the authors hypothesized that: (a) perceived top management support for ethical behaviors will be positively correlated with all facets of job satisfaction (supervision, pay, promotion, work, co-workers, and overall); and (b) the correlation will be highest with the facet of supervision. Empirical results (n = 77 middle level managers from two organizations in South India) supported only the second hypothesis. Implications for managing a global workforce are discussed.     

Qualitative aspects of the Indian growth spurt of the 1980s

The Indian growth spurt of the 1980s has led DeLong (2003), Rodrik & Subramaniam (IMF Staff Papers 52(2):193–228, 2005) and Kohli (Economic and Political Weekly 41(14):1361–1370, 2006) to question the need for market reforms in the 1990s and the supporters of liberalization to argue that it was the result of piecemeal liberalization. Both sides of this debate focus exclusively on the quantitative aspects of the high growth while ignoring its underlying quality. This paper analyzes two aspects of the quality of growth during the 1980s. First, it considers whether the increases in production were concentrated in goods far removed from mass consumption and second, it analyzes certain characteristics of three consumer goods that serve as an indicator of their quality.     

Application of ANN, Fuzzy Logic and Decision Tree Algorithms for the Development of Reservoir Operating Rules

Optimal use of scarce water resources is the prime objective for water resources development projects in the developing country like India. Optimal releases have been generally expressed as a function of reservoir state variables and hydrologic inputs by a relationship which ultimately allows the policy/water managers to determine the water to be released as a function of available information. Optimal releases were obtained by using optimal control theory with inflow series and revised reservoir characteristics such as elevation area capacity table, zero elevation level as input in this study. Operating rules for reservoir were developed as a function of demand, water level and inflow. Artificial Neural Network (ANN) with back propagation algorithm, Fuzzy Logic and decision tree algorithms such as M5 and REPTree were used for deriving the operating rules using the optimal releases for an irrigation and power supply reservoir, located in northern India. It was found that fuzzy logic model performed well compared to other soft computing techniques such as ANN, M5P and REPTree investigated in this study.     

CAVITATION MODELING WITH A CFD APPROACH

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Economic burden associated with inadequate antidepressant medication management among patients with depression and known cardiovascular diseases: insights from a United States–based retrospective claims database analysis

Abstract

Aims: The current study examined the association between insufficient major depressive disorder (MDD) care and healthcare resource use (HCRU) and costs among patients with prior myocardial infarction (MI) or stroke.

Methods: This was a retrospective study conducted using the MarketScan Claims Database (2010–2015). The date of the first MI/stroke diagnosis was defined as the cardiovascular disease (CVD) index date and the first date of a subsequent MDD diagnosis was the index MDD date. Adequacy of MDD care was assessed during the 90 days following the index MDD date (profiling period) using 2 measures: dosage adequacy (average fluoxetine equivalent dose of ≥20?mg/day for nonelderly and ≥10?mg/day for elderly patients) and duration adequacy (measured as the proportion of days covered of 80% or higher for all MDD drugs). Study outcomes included all-cause and CVD-related HCRU and costs which were determined from the end of the profiling period until the end of study follow-up. Propensity-score adjusted generalized linear models (GLMs) were used to compare patients receiving adequate versus inadequate MDD care in terms of study outcomes.

Results: Of 1,568 CVD patients who were treated for MDD, 937 (59.8%) were categorized as receiving inadequate MDD care. Results from the GLMs suggested that patients receiving inadequate MDD care had 14% more all-cause hospitalizations, 4% more all-cause outpatient visits, 17% more CVD-related outpatient visits, 13% more CVD-related emergency room (ER) visits, higher per patient per year CVD-related hospitalization costs ($21,485 vs. $17,756), higher all-cause outpatient costs ($2,820 vs. $2,055), and higher CVD-related outpatient costs ($520 vs. $434) compared to patients receiving adequate MDD care.

Limitations: Clinical information such as depression severity and frailty, which are potential predictors of adverse CVD outcomes, could not be ascertained using administrative claims data.

Conclusions: Among post-MI and post-stroke patients, inadequate MDD care was associated with a significantly higher economic burden.