Disposition Choices Based on Energy Footprints instead of Recovery Quota

This paper addresses the impact of disposition choices on the energy use of closed-loop supply chains. In a life cycle perspective, energy used in the forward chain which is locked up in the product is recaptured in recovery. High quality recovery replaces virgin production and thereby saves energy. This so called substitution effect is often ignored. Governments worldwide implement Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). Policies are based on recovery quota and not effective from an energy point of view. This in turn leads to unnecessary emissions of amongst others CO2. This research evaluates current EPR policies and presents six policy alternatives from an energy standpoint. The Pareto-frontier model used is generic and can be applied to other closed loops supply chains under EPR, exploiting the substitution effect. The measures modeled are applied to five WEEE cases. We discuss results, pros an cons of various alternatives and complementary measures that might be taken.extended producer responsibility;disposition;energy perspective;substitution effect;government policies;Pareto efficiency

"When Knowledge is an Asset: Explaining the Organizational Structure of Large Law Firms"

We study the economics of employment relationships through theoretical and empirical analyses of an unusual set of firms, large law firms. Our point of departure is the "property rights" approach that emphasizes the centrality of ownership's legal rights to control important, nonhuman assets of the enterprise. From this perspective, large law firms are an interesting and potentially important object of study, because the most valuable assets of these firms take the form of knowledge--particularly knowledge of the needs and interests of clients. We argue that the two most distinctive organizational features of large law firms, the use of "up or out" promotion contests and the practice of having winners become residual claimants in the firm, emerge naturally in this setting. In addition to explaining otherwise anomalous features of the up-or-out partnership system, this paper suggests a general framework for analyzing organizations where assets reside in the brains of employees.

When Knowledge is an Asset: Explaining the Organizational Structure of Large Law Firms

We study the economics of employment relationships through theoretical and empirical analysis of an unusual set of firms, large law firms. Our point of departure is the "property rights" approach that emphasizes the centrality of ownership's legal rights to control important, non-human assets of the enterprise. From this perspective, large law firms are an interesting and potentially important object of study because the most valuable assets of these firms take the form of knowledge - particularly knowledge of the needs and interests of clients. We argue that the two most distinctive organizational features of large law firms, the use of "up or out" promotion contests and the practice of having winners become residual claimants in the firm, emerge naturally in this setting. In addition to explaining otherwise anomalous features of the up-or-out partnership system, this paper suggests a general framework for analyzing organizations where assets reside in the brains of employees.

Why do we invest ethically?

Analysis in this paper has proposed three potential motives for ethical investment - financial returns, non-wealth returns and social change. The motives are developed from the literature and illustrated in the context of a 'best of sector' fund and a socially screened fund. We find that the proposed motives are neither exhaustive nor exclusive and one single motive will not explain the behaviour of all ethical investors. There may be a trade-off between financial and psychic returns for some investors. The trade-off for consumption-investors is expected to be close to zero (total utility is maximised with small levels of ethical investment in the fun of participation model) and is expected to vary with the ethical intensity of investment-investors, as shown when we include ethical intensity into the investor's utility function. Psychic return can also be viewed as an increase in happiness and this approach would lend itself to empirical testing to increase our understanding of why we invest ethically

Optimal disposition decisions for a remanufacturing system considering time value of products

This paper studies disposition decisions of cores where the value of returns deteriorates over time. Mainly in disposition decisions, a remanufacturer is interested to determine how many units to remanufacture and to salvage. To address this research problem along with value deterioration of returns, a rough-cut mathematical model is developed by considering various parameters of interest such as selling price, salvage value and remanufacturing rate with the aim to maximize total profit. Due to uncertainty limitations, the model can provide decision-makers with relevant insights about disposition decisions. Simulation modeling techniques are used to validate the proposed model. Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the applicability of the model and to show the negative relation between the deterioration rate and the total profit. However, the above-indicated parameters of selling price, salvage value and remanufacturing rate work the opposite way

Time Sharing at Leisure Facility Centres: Analysis of Sales Performance Indicators

The changing cultural paradigms in Latin America have influenced variety of leisure activities and significant implications for development of leisure services. Leisure spending behaviour prompts sequential relationship among customers intending to perform family celebrations in a different environment and gaining higher satisfaction through the customized services, recreational attractions and brand value. This study focuses qualitative dimensions associated with the sales people and managerial efforts made to augment the outcome performance in sales in reference to the time sharing proposals at leisure facility centres in Mexico. The leisure facility centres are used by individual and institutional customers for organizing leisure events, parties and family gatherings. The study reveals that the leisure facility centre developer firms function with team sales strategy and the performance of sale teams is linked with their contributions to the profit of the firm.Team sales, customer satisfaction, sales performance, leisure property, brand image, returns on assets

Returns Management for Time-sensitive Products: What is the Value of RFID and Sensor Technologies?

This contribution concerns itself with the value of RFID and sensor technologies to reverse logistics processes. Our research is motivated by the question, to what extent the accuracy of information on product quality delivered by such technologies impacts the total recovered value companies obtain from returned goods in an industry with time-sensitive products. For this purpose, we first present a case study to examine the returns management process at a manufacturer of high-tech consumer electronics. We then develop an analytical model to study the monetary benefits in a scenario with RFID-enabled product disposition. Our results first show that RFID allows for a redesign of the return process which performs more efficiently regarding total recovered value depending on technology costs (i.e. tag costs) and capabilities (i.e. sufficient sensor-delivered parameters to rightly infer the product quality). Second, our results indicate that maximum benefits can be drawn with lower accuracy but early decision on the disposition option

PESTICIDE TAX, CROPPING PATTERNS, AND WATER QUALITY IN SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS

The impact of an ad valorem pesticide tax on cropping patterns and pesticide use was examined in the South Central Texas Crop Reporting District. Output supply equations were econometrically estimated and used in the simulation. A 25 percent tax on pesticide was estimated to have major impacts on cropping patterns and on pesticide use. Assuming other input and output prices were unaffected, the supply of one important crop would fall by more than half. Demand for some of the highly soluble and persistent pesticides, which present the greatest threat to groundwater quality, would also decrease substantially (some as much as 50 percent).Crops, Dual model, Pesticides, Water quality, Supply, Crop Production/Industries,