This book presents a set of new, innovative mathematical modeling tools for analyzing financial risk. Operational Tools in the Management of Financial Risks presents an array of new tools drawn from a variety of research areas, including chaos theory, expert systems, fuzzy sets, neural nets, risk analysis, stochastic programming, and multicriteria decision making. Applications cover, but are not limited to, bankruptcy, credit granting, capital budgeting, corporate performance and viability, portfolio selection/management, and country risk. The book is organized into five sections. The first section applies multivariate data and multicriteria analyses to the problem of portfolio selection. Articles in this section combine classical approaches with newer methods. The second section expands the analysis in the first section to a variety of financial problems: business failure, corporate performance and viability, bankruptcy, etc. The third section examines the mathematical programming techniques including linear, dynamic, and stochastic programming to portfolio managements. The fourth section introduces fuzzy set and artificial intelligence techniques to selected types of financial decisions. The final section explores the contribution of several multicriteria methodologies in the assessment of country financial risk. In total, this book is a systematic examination of an emerging methodology for managing financial risk in business.

This handbook includes contributions related to optimization, pricing and valuation problems, risk modeling and decision making problems arising in global financial and commodity markets from the perspective of Operations Research and Management Science. The book is structured in three parts, emphasizing common methodological approaches arising in the areas of interest: - Part I: Optimization techniques - Part II: Pricing and Valuation - Part III: Risk Modeling The book presents to a wide community of Academics and Practitioners a selection of theoretical and applied contributions on topics that have recently attracted increasing interest in commodity and financial markets. Within a structure based on the three parts, it presents recent state-of-the-art and original works related to: - The adoption of multi-criteria and dynamic optimization approaches in financial and insurance markets in presence of market stress and growing systemic risk; - Decision paradigms, based on behavioral finance or factor-based, or more classical stochastic optimization techniques, applied to portfolio selection problems including new asset classes such as alternative investments; - Risk measurement methodologies, including model risk assessment, recently applied to energy spot and future markets and new risk measures recently proposed to evaluate risk-reward trade-offs in global financial and commodity markets; and derivatives portfolio hedging and pricing methods recently put forward in the financial community in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.

This book presents a set of papers from the leading edge of current research on productivity analysis. The focus is on alternative forms of measurement, methods, and their implications. The book begins with a chapter by V. Corbo and J. de Melo comparing the effects of using different production frontier models for measuring technical efficiency when using census data. The second chapter (by H. Pesaran and R. Tarling) is a detailed analysi.s of measurement of labor and its variations over time. The next two chapters concern the measurement of capital. The first of these is written by M. F. Mohr; the second is by B. M. Fraumeni and D. W. Jorgenson. The final chapter is by I. B. Kravis, A. W. Heston, and R. Summers and concerns the behavior of productivity and service prices. Decisions for improving productivity rely upon explicit as well as implicit assumptions on how productivity is related to a variety of factors. Determining the right relationships hinges on how these factors are measured and how the models are set. This is why better understanding of measurement issues and behavior of variables related to productivity can lead more effective policies. We plan to continue in this series to present the current research of major different schools of thought in the field."

This book introduces the fundamental principles of understanding business requirements to apply enterprise resource planning (ERP) in order to meet business needs. The book also helps readers understand the usage of ERP for monitoring and controlling business processes, while providing practical oriented solutions to the design and implementation of ERP. Using the provided framework, a business can decide to provide more value at lower cost which increases its competitive advantage. This should be an ideal reference for executives, researchers and consultants in project management of ERP. ERP can be considered to be an integrated package of business process. The scope of ERP determines the extent of automation of business process. For example if ERP covers Human Resource (HR) and finance business processes only, then business process related HR and finance are automated. Typically business process that are automated in HR and finance employee entry and exist process, allocation of employee ID, payroll, processing , income tax planning and actual deduction etc. There is seamless flow of employee data and information is available at an effectively faster rate to take appropriate decision. As custom demand increases, there is a need to meet the changing scenario with speed and efficiency. While there is a need to increase productivity, there is also a need to reduce cost of operation. The repetitive business processes can be handled effectively by automating them and freeing human resources for meeting other uncertainties. These automations not only should be done for each department, but also should cut across different departments. Thus there is a need for automating business processes at enterprise level. This enterprise level automation started with MRP, then MRP II, ERP and then finally open source ERP have taken centre stage. Out of the standard products available in the market, an organization can chose an ERP product for implementation, depending on the features available and the total cost of ownership (TCO). This comparison helps an organization to choose the product that best suits the needs for the organization. Enterprise Resource Planning: Fundamentals of Design and Implementation highlights these concepts while discusses different good practices to design and implement ERP.

The scope of this book is limited to heuristics, metaheuristics, and approximate methods and algorithms as applied to planning and scheduling problems. While it is not possible to give a comprehensive treatment of this topic in one book, the aim of this work is to provide the reader with a diverse set of planning and scheduling problems and different heuristic approaches to solve them. The problems range from traditional single stage and parallel machine problems to more modern settings such as robotic cells and flexible job shop networks. Furthermore, some chapters deal with deterministic problems while some others treat stochastic versions of the problems. Unlike most of the literature that deals with planning and scheduling problems in the manufacturing and production environments, in this book the environments were extended to nontraditional applications such as spatial scheduling (optimizing space over time), runway scheduling, and surgical scheduling. The solution methods used in the different chapters of the book also spread from well-established heuristics and metaheuristics such as Genetic Algorithms and Ant Colony Optimization to more recent ones such as Meta-RaPS.

Traditional notions of work are transforming rapidly as we enter into the global workspace. Through interviews with leading experts, The Worldwide Workplace gives readers a practical understanding of how to prepare for and capitalize on changes to the working environment.

This volume covers recent developments in the design, operation, and management of mobile telecommunication and computer systems.

Uncertainty regarding loading and system parameters leads to challenging optimization and robustness issues. Stochastic modeling combined with optimization theory ensures the optimum end-to-end performance of telecommunication or computer network systems. In view of the diverse design options possible, supporting models have many adjustable parameters and choosing the best set for a particular performance objective is delicate and time-consuming. An optimization based approach determines the optimal possible allocation for these parameters.

Researchers and graduate students working at the interface of telecommunications and operations research will benefit from this book. Due to the practical approach, this book will also serve as a reference tool for scientists and engineers in telecommunication and computer networks who depend upon optimization.

Why does the World Need-Excel Data Analysis, Modeling, and Simulation? When spreadsheets ?rst became widely available in the early 1980s, it spawned a revolution in teaching. What previously could only be done with arcane software and large scale computing was now available to the common-man, on a desktop. Also, before spreadsheets, most substantial analytical work was done outside the classroom where the tools were; spreadsheets and personal computers moved the work into the classroom. Not only did it change how the analysis curriculum was taught, but it also empowered students to venture out on their own to explore new ways to use the tools. I can't tell you how many phone calls, of?ce visits, and/or emails I have received in my teaching career from ecstatic students crowing about what they have just done with a spreadsheet model. I have been teaching courses related to spreadsheet based analysis and modeling for about 25 years and I have watched and participated in the spreadsheet revolution.

Goal Programming Applications in Accounting 74 Goal Programming Applications in Agriculture 76 Goal Programming Applications in Economics 78 Goal Programming Applications in Engineering 79 Goal Programming Applications in Finance 80 Goal Programming Applications in Government 83 Goal Programming Applications in an International Context 88 Goal Programming Applications in Management 90 Goal Programming Applications in Marketing 97 Summary 98 CHAPTER 5. FUTURE TRENDS IN GOAL PROORAMMING 101 GP is Positioned for Growth 101 Shifting the Life Cycle of GP Research to Growth 103 Summary 107 Reference 108 APPENDIX A TEXTBOOKS, READINGS BOOKS AND MONOORAPHS ON GOAL PROORAMMING 109 APPENDIX B. JOURNAL RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS ON GOAL PROORAMMING 113 INDEX 213 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1-1. Summary Relationship of GP with MS/OR and MCDM Figure 1-2. Frequency Distribution for GP Journal Publications Figure 1-3. Life Cycle ofGP Research Figure 2-1. Set of GP Efficient Solutions Figure 5-1. Life Cycle of GP Research ix LIST OF TABLES Table 1-1. MS/OR Topics and Their Related GP Topics Table 1-2. MCDM Subareas and Their Related GP Topics Table 1-3. Frequency Listing ofGP Journal Publications and Book Titles Table 2-1. Solutions for a Dominated GP Problem Table 2-2. Conversion ofLP Constraints to Goal Constraints Table 2-3. GP Citations on Dominance, Inferiority and Inefficiency Table 2-4. GP Citations on Relative Weighting, Prioritization and Incommensurability Table 2-5. MS/OR Topics and Their Related GP Topics Table 3-1. Citations on WeightedlPreemptive GP Methodology Table 3-2. Citations on Pure/Mixed Integer GP Methodology Table 3-3.

The health care delivery system, its organizations, and its supporting industries are currently undergoing immense changes and at the center of this change is technology. This book is about the management of this technology. The authors refer to this new intellectual space as the Management of Medical Technology (MMT). From the core activities of delivering medical care, to the supporting industries producing technical systems, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, information technology, and finally to the insurers of health care - all of these demonstrate the central role technology plays in delivering health. Management of Medical Technology examines the many aspects of managing medical technology, discusses its key issues, and outlines how it can be managed more effectively. This is a foundational book in Kluwer's Series on MMT. It is designed for academics and students in all areas of management related to health care, as a text for related undergraduate and graduate courses, as well as a reference book for health care executives and managers of technology in industry. The book is divided into three complementary parts. Part 1 explores the theory of MMT and in six chapters outlines the new intellectual space of MMT and its theoretical background. Part 2 is dedicated to the practice of MMT. This part has six chapters and describes the two main empirical studies conducted by the authors on MMT; one study examined how hospitals currently manage medical technology and the second study investigated the management of medical information technology. Moreover, related to the practice of MMT, this part also discusses in detail issues of effectiveness of delivery, patient value and patientwelfare, and education in MMT. Part 3 is a thorough treatment of MMT cases in a variety of health care organizations, each describing a different phenomenon in the practice of MMT. Eleven cases are included, with discussion questions for use in the classroom.

This book collects a high-quality selection of contemporary research and case studies on the complexity resulting from human/reliability management in industrial plants and critical infrastructures. It includes: Human-error management issues-considering how to reduce human errors as much as possible. Reliability management issues-considering the ability of a system or component to function under certain conditions for a specified period of time. Thus, the book analyses globally the problem regarding the human and reliability management to reduce human errors as much as possible and to ensure safety and security in critical infrastructures. Accidents continue to be the major concern in "critical infrastructures", and human factors have been proved to be the prime causes to accidents. Clearly, human dynamics are a challenging management function to guarantee reliability, safety and costs reduction in critical infrastructures. The book is enriched by figures, examples and extensive case studies and is a valuable reference resource for those with involved in disaster and emergency planning as well as researchers interested both in theoretical and practical aspects.

This is a collection of state-of-the-art surveys on topics at the interface between transportation modeling and operations research given by leading international experts. Based on contributions to a NATO workshop, the surveys are up-to-date and rigorous presentations or applications of quantitative methods in the area. The subjects covered include dynamic traffic simulation techniques and dynamic routing in congested networks, operation and control of traffic management tools, optimized transportation data collection, and vehicle routing problems.

Sustainable Self-Governance in Businesses and Society offers a sound introduction to Stafford Beer's Viable System Model (VSM) and clarifies its relevance to support organisational sustainability and self-governance. While the VSM has been known since the early 1980s, it hasn't been always easy to understand and to apply. It explains the self-transformation methodology to analyse the way organisations manage (or not) their complexity and govern themselves. The work is supported by multiple examples of application in organisations of all scales - from small to multi-national corporations and from organised social networks to communities and national organisations. It clarifies the relevance of Beer's theory to support systemic learning and change in organisations, and to coach them to self-organise and self-govern. Readers interested in further understanding insights from complex systems and cybernetics theories for designing and transforming organisations will benefit from this book, as it works to offer very detailed insights on how to put the VSM theory into practice. It clarifies how it improves adaptive capabilities, agile and self-regulated structures, more capable of fully implementing corporate sustainability strategies and self-governing themselves. The chapters provide key reading for managers, consultants, practitioners, and post-graduate students working in organisational transformation, governance, and sustainability.

This book is based on the papers presented at the International Conference 'Quality Improvement through Statistical Methods' in Cochin, India during December 28-31, 1996. The Conference was hosted by the Cochin University of Science and Technology, Cochin, India; and sponsored by the Institute for Improvement in Quality and Productivity (IIQP) at the University of Waterloo, Canada, the Statistics in Industry Committee of the International Statistical Institute (lSI) and by the Indian Statistical Institute. There has been an increased interest in Quality Improvement (QI) activities in many organizations during the last several years since the airing of the NBC television program, "If Japan can ... why can't we?" Implementation of QI meth ods requires statistical thinking and the utilization of statistical tools, thus there has been a renewed interest in statistical methods applicable to industry and technology. This revitalized enthusiasm has created worldwide discussions on Industrial Statistics Research and QI ideas at several international conferences in recent years. The purpose of this conference was to provide a forum for presenting and ex changing ideas in Statistical Methods and for enhancing the transference of such technologies to quality improvement efforts in various sectors. It also provided an opportunity for interaction between industrial practitioners and academia. It was intended that the exchange of experiences and ideas would foster new international collaborations in research and other technology transfers."

The importance of corporate social responsibility with a focus on gender diversity has been widely debated in modern businesses. Of specific issue is the importance of gender diversity and its impact on the mining industry including the communities in which they are established. Corporate Social Responsibility and the Inclusivity of Women in the Mining Industry: Emerging Research and Opportunities is a pivotal reference source that explores how multinational mining corporations influence the life of women in international mining communities. While highlighting topics such as corporate social responsibilities, socioeconomics, and management systems, this publication is ideally designed for industry professionals, engineers, managers, policymakers, academicians, and researchers.

This is the first book focusing exclusively on fuzzy dual numbers. In addition to offering a concise guide to their properties, operations and applications, it discusses some of their advantages with regard to classical fuzzy numbers, and describes the most important operations together with a set of interesting applications in e.g. optimization, decision-making and system design. The book provides students, researchers and professionals the necessary theoretical background to apply this particular subset of fuzzy numbers to decision-making problems involving uncertainty. Further, it shows how to solve selected engineering and management problems and includes detailed numerical examples.

The second edition of Multi-Objective Management in Freight Logistics builds upon the first, providing a detailed study of freight transportation systems, with a specific focus on multi-objective modelling. It offers decision-makers methods and tools for implementing multi-objective optimisation models in logistics. The second edition also includes brand-new chapters on green supply chain and hybrid fleet management problems. After presenting the general framework and multi-objective optimization, the book analyses green logistic focusing on two main aspects: green corridors and network design; next, it studies logistic issues in a maritime terminal and route planning in the context of hazardous material transportation. Finally, heterogeneous fleets distribution and coordination models are discussed. The book presents problems providing the mathematics, algorithms, implementations, and the related experiments for each problem. It offers a valuable resource for postgraduate students and researchers in transportation, logistics and operations, as well as practitioners working in service systems.

The proceedings volume consists of academic papers on decision-making under uncertainty, smart decision, stochastic optimization, management simulation and its applications. It presents some compelling and valuable results on the cutting-edge modeling methods and the practical case studies in the operations management process for power, transportation, and logistics companies.

This book mainly introduces the latest development of generalized intuitionistic multiplicative fuzzy calculus and its application. The book pursues three major objectives: (1) to introduce the calculus models with concrete mathematical expressions for generalized intuitionistic multiplicative fuzzy information; (2) to introduce new information fusion methods based on the definite integral models; and (3) to clarify the involved approaches bymilitary case. The book is especially valuable for readers to understand how the theoretical framework of generalized intuitionistic multiplicative fuzzy calculus is constructed, not only discrete or continuous but also correlative (generalized) intuitionistic (multiplicative) fuzzy information is aggregated based on the definite integral models and the theory with a military practice is integrated, which would deepen the understanding and give researchers more inspiration in practical decision analysis under uncertainties.

This book is an undergraduate text that introduces students to commonly used statistical methods in economics. Using examples based on contemporary economic issues and readily available data, it not only explains the mechanics of the various methods, but also guides students to connect statistical results to detailed economic interpretations. Because the goal is for students to be able to apply the statistical methods presented, online sources for economic data and directions for performing each task in Excel are also included.

This volume is a collection of research surveys on the Distance Geometry Problem (DGP) and its applications. It will be divided into three parts: Theory, Methods and Applications. Each part will contain at least one survey and several research papers. The first part, Theory, will deal with theoretical aspects of the DGP, including a new class of problems and the study of its complexities as well as the relation between DGP and other related topics, such as: distance matrix theory, Euclidean distance matrix completion problem, multispherical structure of distance matrices, distance geometry and geometric algebra, algebraic distance geometry theory, visualization of K-dimensional structures in the plane, graph rigidity, and theory of discretizable DGP: symmetry and complexity. The second part, Methods, will discuss mathematical and computational properties of methods developed to the problems considered in the first chapter including continuous methods (based on Gaussian and hyperbolic smoothing, difference of convex functions, semidefinite programming, branch-and-bound), discrete methods (based on branch-and-prune, geometric build-up, graph rigidity), and also heuristics methods (based on simulated annealing, genetic algorithms, tabu search, variable neighborhood search). Applications will comprise the third part and will consider applications of DGP to NMR structure calculation, rational drug design, molecular dynamics simulations, graph drawing and sensor network localization. This volume will be the first edited book on distance geometry and applications. The editors are in correspondence with the major contributors to the field of distance geometry, including important research centers in molecular biology such as Institut Pasteur in Paris.

This book brings together key theories behind qualitative research, whilst drawing attention to novel, cutting-edge approaches to data gathering, such as visual anthropology and storytelling. Offering a comprehensive guide to qualitative analysis, this book goes further than examining research methods to open a discussion on the roles of reflexivity, imagination, emotions and ethics in qualitative research, Covering topics such as reflective analysis, sociological paradigms, action research and organizational ethnography, this book is ideal reading for those who wish to address the gap between undergraduate and postgraduate research-based edited books and encompasses a wide array of methods. Those exploring organization studies will find this two-volume collection extremely valuable as it contains robust contributions from highly-skilled authors who are actively researching in this field.

This is a book about how management and control decisions are made by persons who collaborate and possibly use the support of an information system. The decision is the result of human conscious activities aiming at choosing a course of action for attaining a certain objective (or a set of objectives). The act of collaboration implies that several entities who work together and share responsibilities to jointly plan, implement and evaluate a program of activities to achieve the common goals. The book is intended to present a balanced view of the domain to include both well-established concepts and a selection of new results in the domains of methods and key technologies. It is meant to answer several questions, such as: a) "How are evolving the business models towards the ever more collaborative schemes?"; b) "What is the role of the decision-maker in the new context?" c) "What are the basic attributes and trends in the domain of decision-supporting information systems?"; d) "Which are the basic methods to aggregate the individual preferences?" e)"What is the impact of modern information and communication technologies on the design and usage of decision support systems for groups of people?".