Suchergebnisse

This article reports on research into the transportation cost element of physical distribution in an Australian packaging materials company. The authors describe how mathematical programming was applied to rationalise the allocation of customers between the company's two plants. The outcome of this research was twofold. Firstly, transportation costs were reduced. And secondly, as a by‐product of the exercise, the marketing research analyst demonstrated to the managerial decision makers the potential contribution that management science could make to their decision making. Thus, a link was forged between the management scientist and the manager.

Policy attitude towards trade integration and foreign direct investment (FDI) is often a controversial yet popular subject. This note presents evidences from recent policy researches that arguing that engaging in an open trade and investment regime have brought productivity gains which is key factor for sustaining increase in income per-capita. Evidence from Indonesia also suggests that foreign owned plants have become increasingly important, generating a significant share of exports and overall output, as well as more productive and more export intensive than domestic plants, and to spend more on RD and training. FDI also have positive impact on firms in the same sector, through competition and demonstration effects, and in upstream sectors, as suppliers to foreign-owned plants improve the quality of their own products to meet their clients more exacting needs. Evidence also suggests a positive impact from import competition in improving allocative efficiency across manufacturing plants which is a key element in driving productivity in manufacturing sector.

The paper addresses the enhancement of productivity in the development of municipal services and especially, the personnel-oriented ways to increase productivity. Improving the productivity of public services is widely seen as an essential target in Finland, and there have been programmes at both the state and local level to increase productivity. What is the role of personnel in enhancing productivity? Using development project material from the city of Lahti, this paper aims to study how productivity-enhancement and personnel-orientation methods are linked together in project initiatives made by staff. To what extent is productivity enhancement personnel-oriented? The research material consists of project reports from a total of 17 projects. All the projects were part of the competition to improve working life organized by the city of Lahti in 2012, and they all recorded their impressions on the link between their initiatives and productivity. In addition, all the projects can be localized to a specific service unit of the city. The method of study is case-oriented qualitative document analysis. ; Kyseessä on konferenssiesitys, joka on saatavilla konferenssin järjestäjän kotisivuilla: tiivistelmä on avoinna kaikille, kokotekstiversio vain osallistujille.

Three separate but related streams of productivity research have recently appeared in the accounting and distribution literature. One stream has been concerned with the conceptual approach to developing productivity measurement systems. A second stream has argued that accounting‐oriented information systems have been ineffective in meeting the productivity reporting requirements of the marketing and distribution functions. The third stream has applied the conceptual approaches of the first stream to the problems cited in the second to produce a more effective distribution productivity measurement and reporting system. This article is a continuation of the third line of research. Specifically, the article describes a methodology for measuring productivity changes in distribution with the use of specific management accounting tools.

Discusses recent advances in the use of modern technology and management concepts--from distributed virtual manufacturing enterprises to integrating green technology in a cost-effective manner to materials and energy savings. Offers engineers and technical managers the needed insight to plan for future growth and success.

Productivity is a summary measure of the quantity and quality of work performance with resource utilization considered. Regardless of the type of production, the basic concept is always the relationship between the quality and quantity of goods or service produced and the quantity of resource used to produce them. The garment and footwear sectors were chosen as main area of focus to explore factors influencing productivity so that it can be enhanced by managing these factors. Survey study was conducted by selecting the sample organization of garment and footwear sectors purposively by considering the organizations' size, availability of necessary information and their role in their respective sector. The major factors that affect productivity of the organizations are found to be capital, labor, intermediate materials, market demand, competition, government rule and regulation, workers motivation and satisfaction, research and development, innovation, technology, and production equipment.

Industrial Ecology is perhaps the first serious attempt to go beyond general statements regarding the desirability of 'clean technology' and to assess realistically and quantitatively the range of practicable possibilities for reducing materials extraction, consumption and waste. This major new book examines strategic options for reducing wastes and pollution and increasing the productivity of materials. Using an industrial ecology perspective, the authors analyse thirteen generic cases of material, beginning with four families of metals (aluminium, chromium, copper and zinc), several families of chemicals (phosphates and fluorine; suphur-based, nitrogen-based and chlorine-based), silicon and several different types of waste. Opportunities for creating 'industrial ecosystems' by deliberate design are discussed as well as the use of low-value by-products as feed stocks for useful products. In addition to surveying the technological possibilities, the authors also consider the public interest, institutional barriers and the range of possible alternatives that might be applicable. Environmental scientists, economists, practitioners and policy makers will welcome Industrial Ecology's integrated approach and the emphasis which it places on resource productivity, materials cycle optimization and waste minimization

Combining Aesthetic Intent with Utilitarian Value, Hand-Crafted objects may be beautiful as well as functional. Crafts rely upon human ingenuity and productivity. They encompass both the products and the processes of production that comprise most aspects of material culture. The crafts of preindustrial Iran achieved distinction for their high levels of technical and aesthetic accomplishment. At different times in Iranian history, crafts sustained local economies, generated income from trade, and brought international fame.As with all arts, crafts tend to be culturally expressive, exhibiting styles that may be geographically and temporally defined. Determinants of style may include availability of materials, local traditions of craftsmanship, levels of state intervention and other sources of influence, as well as aesthetic preferences. In Iran, from household production for home consumption to cottage industry and commercial city workshops, and from nomadic encampments to court ateliers, crafts represent products of nomads, rural villagers, city dwellers, and courtiers.

Measuring factor productivity has been important in economics since its early days as a scientific discipline for a number of reasons. The first is the availability of systematically collected agricultural data after World War I, which allowed researchers to motivate and test newly developed methods. This data was collected to fulfill the societal need to learn more about the farming sector, which was stuck in a deep economic crisis at that time. In addition, economists stressed that agricultural technologies approximate the key assumptions of production theory particularly well. To measure agricultural productivity the analyst must deal with tangible (land, labour, and capital) as well as intangible (e.g., management abilities or unexpected weather shocks) production factors. Separating these two types of inputs and appropriately accounting for the latter is at the core of understanding agricultural production. Recent developments such as rising food prices and the decline in global productivity growth indicate that there is a societal need to understand and raise agricultural productivity again. Interestingly, these trends are accompanied by a new debate among econometricians about basic methodological issues in measuring firm level productivity. [.] Following my analyses, a number of policy implications unfold. As it turned out, materials is the most important input in European field crop farming. Hence, improving the availability of working capital is the most promising way to increase agricultural productivity. This finding is also underlined by the shadow price analysis, which indicated that in a number of countries the estimated return on working capital is much above observed market interest rates. Therefore, policy reforms should aim to ease access to short-term credit. With regards to agricultural labour markets the results indicate for France, West Germany and Italy that hired workers perform the highly specialised tasks leading to an increase in agricultural productivity. Consequently, policy makers should focus on creating incentives for farms to hire such specialised labour. For instance, programs to qualify and hire specialised labour could improve their inflow into agricultural labour markets.

The rise in productivity described by Dr. Jones, coupled with a static population, brought to an end the upward movement in the relative prices of farm products which had characterized the one hundred forty years preceding the Restoration. With the passing of the lean years, there followed almost a century of comparative plenty, bringing an increasing flow of food and raw materials.

The paper explores the implications of achieving the EU27 Resource Efficiency target by 2030 for the future sustainability of the area. The target involves increasing by well over 30% within 2030 EU27 Resource Productivity, which would correspond to nearly double the annual growth rate of the pre-crisis period. The analysis uses a model-based index (FEEM Sustainability Index, FEEM SI) conceived to assess sustainability across time and countries. FEEM SI builds on the recursive-dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model ICES-SI, which considers jointly variables belonging to the three sustainability dimensions (economy, society, and environment). The indicators produced in this framework are first normalized and then aggregated by using some elicited weights and a non-linear methodology. The 30% increase of EU27 Resource Efficiency by 2030 is achieved by applying an ad-valorem tax to the use of mining resources, and offsets the negative effects on the economy (slightly lower GDP and Investment rate) with considerable benefits for the environment. This implies a +1.02% increase in overall EU sustainability with respect to the reference "no policy" scenario.

The present volume provides a timely collection of material on the subject of international comparisons, contributed by leading scholars from an extensive range of relevant disciplines and geographical backgrounds. The papers in this volume have been classified into two broad groups united by overlapping themes. Part I includes essentially empirical papers intended to provide a clear picture of the different types of international comparisons that have been undertaken by various organizations and individuals. The papers relate to empirical studies of different sectoral and national income aggr