Capacity Management in Rental Businesses With Two Customer Bases

We consider the allocation of capacity in a system in which rental equipment is accessed by two classes of customers. We formulate the problem as a continuous-time analogue of the one-shot allocation problems found in the more traditional literature on revenue management, and we analyze a queueing control model that approximates its dynamics. Our investigation yields three sets of results. First, we use dynamic programming to characterize properties of optimal capacity allocation policies. We identify conditions under which “complete sharing”—in which both classes of customers have unlimited access to the rental fleet—is optimal. Next, we develop a computationally efficient “aggregate threshold” heuristic that is based on a fluid approximation of the original stochastic model. We obtain closed-form expressions for the heuristic’s control parameters and show that the heuristic performs well in numerical experiments. The closed-form expressions also show that, in the context of the fluid approximation, revenues are concave and increasing in the fleet size. Finally, we consider the effect of the ability to allocate capacity on optimal fleet size. We show that the optimal fleet size under allocation policies may be lower, the same as, or higher than that under complete sharing. As capacity costs increase, allocation policies allow for larger relative fleet sizes. Numerical results show that, even in cases in which dollar profits under complete sharing may be close to those under allocation policies, the capacity reductions enabled by allocation schemes can help to lift profit margins significantly

Governing the "New Economy": a 3-Phase Historical Model of Cumulative Gales of Creative Destruction of the United Kingdom Internet Service Providers' Market

This article documents the industrial dynamics and the innovation processes inherent in the fast emerging dial-up Internet access segment of the new telecommunication sector in the United Kingdom for the period between 1992 - 2002. It shows that evolving market structures and related products and service innovation in the wholesale and retail branches of the UK Internet Service Providers' market have to be understood in the context of: a) an entrepreneurial thrust that seizes the advantage of a glut of finance accumulated from the privatization of the utilities; b) the evolution of the relationship between the UK voice and data transfer markets after the privatization of British Telecommunications and the strategic development of its 'intelligent network'; c) the related network technologies and services available for deployment at the start of the implementation of the Internet as a mass infrastructure; d) BT's quasi-monopoly in call origination and finally e) the wider evolutionary industrial dynamics, i.e. a cumulative process of conjectures and feedback loops of market power, strategic management and transformation in corporate and institutional governance following the market's expansion and the transition from metered to unmetered dial up Internet access.innovation and industrial dynamics, dial-up Internet, United Kingdom

Promoting competitiveness in South African agriculture and agribusiness: The role of institutions

This paper considers private and public institutions that will help promote the competitiveness of commercial farms and agribusiness firms, and enhance the productivity of communal farmers and the competitiveness of emerging farmers in South Africa. Commercial agriculture and agribusiness are creating institutions (such as food safety standards and strategic partnerships), adopting existing private and public institutions (e.g. TQM, ISO 9000 and HACCP) or restructuring to add value to products and services, reduce costs and gain access to export markets. Government should focus its relatively scarce resources on providing physical and legal infrastructure (such as secure property rights and contract enforcement) to reduce transaction costs, including risk, so that markets work efficiently. A major challenge for local agricultural economists is to provide information about institutions that will promote the productive use of land in communal areas, and the competitiveness of emerging farmers on redistributed commercial farmland.Agribusiness, International Relations/Trade,

Study on thermal model for calculating transformer hot Spot temperature

A power transformer is a static piece of apparatus with two or more windings which, by electromagnetic induction, transforms a system of alternating voltage and current into another system of voltage and current usually of different values and at same frequency for the purpose of transmitting electrical power. The hot spot temperature depends on instantaneous load and ambient temperature, winding design and also cooling model. There are two possible methods for hotspot temperature determination. The first method is to measure the hot spot temperature using a fiber optic, and other is to calculation the hotspot temperature using transformer thermal models. It was noticed that the hot spot temperature rise over top oil temperature due to load changes is a function depending on time as well as the transformer loading (overshoot time dependent function). It has also been noticed that the top oil temperature time constant is shorter than the time constant suggested by the present IEC loading guide, especially in cases where the oil is guided through the windings in a zigzag pattern for the ONAN and ONAF cooling modes. This results in winding hottest spot temperatures higher than those predicted by the loading guides during transient states after the load current increases, before the corresponding steady states have been reached. This thesis presents more accurate temperature calculation methods taking into account the findings mentioned above. The models are based on heat transfer theory, application of the lumped capacitance method, the thermal-electrical analogy and definition of nonlinear thermal resistances at different locations within a power transformer. The methods presented in this thesis take into account all oil physical parameters change and loss variation with temperature. In addition, the proposed equations are used to estimate the equivalent thermal capacitances of the transformer oil for different transformer designs and winding-oil circulations. The models are validated using experimental results, which have been obtained from the normal heat run test performed by the transformer manufacturer at varying load current on a 250-MVA-ONAFcooled unit, a 400-MVA-ONAF-cooled unit and a 2500-KVA-ONAN-cooled unit. The results are also compared with the IEC 60076-7:2005 loading guide method. Keywords: power transformers, hot spot temperature, top oil temperature, non-linear therma

Affordable housing in the greater Boston area: what challenges are LMI households facing?

Traditional programs designed to assist low- and moderate-income (LMI) renters and prospective homebuyers may not be sufficient given the rapidly accelerating Greater Boston real-estate market. Kathleen Gill explores how a growing shortage of affordable housing impacts LMI households and what options may be available to them.Housing - Massachusetts ; Housing - Prices

From disaster to renewal: the centrality of business recovery to community resilience

This report looks at natural disaster recovery in Australia. The report, which draws on case studies of four towns still recovering from flooding, cyclones and bushfires up to five years down the track, reveals there is inadequate planning for many of the short and long-term disaster effects.Not only this, the RAI found that many recovery efforts fail to take advantage of significant financial reinvestment in a community, focusing excessively on returning a town back to ‘normal’ rather than adapting to changed economic drivers or exploring opportunities for renewal. It might not be until 5-10 years down the track that the full impact of a disaster on a community is realised, by which stage reversing the negative economic trend can be extremely difficult. Looking at some of the typical barriers to the recovery process, the RAI found that even something as innocent as well-intentioned physical donations were a mixed blessing, not only presenting problems with storage and distribution, but weakening the demand for local business. The role of the media in the recovery process is also scrutinised in the report, with an excessive focus on the extent of destruction in a town seen as driving post-disaster stigma; the perception among the wider community that the town has been wiped off the map. Not only does this have a negative impact on the psyche of the recovering town – and peoples’ decisions to stay and rebuild – but it can deter important economic drivers like tourism and investment later down the track, when images of destruction continue to resonate long after the media attention has turned elsewhere

Promoting Private Sector Development in Vietnam from the Effectiveness of Supporting Policies

Over the last 20 years of Doimoi (renovation) reform policy in Vietnam, private sector has significantly contributed to the outstanding success of the economy. The rapid development of this sector has been resulted from the opening -up economic policy pursued by Vietnamese government and particularly, from the issuance of the Enterprise Law. This law and other policies have been creating a favorable business environment for the private sector development.Vietnam, Private Sector Development, Public Policy

Program on stimulating operational private sector use of Earth observation satellite information

Ideas for new businesses specializing in using remote sensing and computerized spatial data systems were developd. Each such business serves as an 'information middleman', buying raw satellite or aircraft imagery, processing these data, combining them in a computer system with customer-specific information, and marketing the resulting information products. Examples of the businesses the project designed are: (1) an agricultural facility site evaluation firm; (2) a mass media grocery price and supply analyst and forecaster; (3) a management service for privately held woodlots; (4) a brokerage for insulation and roofing contractors, based on infrared imagery; (5) an expanded real estate information service. In addition, more than twenty-five other commercially attractive ideas in agribusiness, forestry, mining, real estate, urban planning and redevelopment, and consumer information were created. The commercial feasibility of the five business was assessed. This assessment included market surveys, revenue projections, cost analyses, and profitability studies. The results show that there are large and enthusiastic markets willing to pay for the services these businesses offer, and that the businesses could operate profitably

Web Auctions in Europe

This paper argues that a better understanding of the business model of web auctions can be reached if we adopt a broader view and provide empirical research from different sites. In this paper the business model of web auctions is refined into four dimensions. These are auction model, motives, exchange processes, and stakeholders. One of the objects of this research is to redefine the blurry concept of the business model by analyzing one business model, the web auction model. We show in this research the complexity and diversity of factors contributing to the success of the web auction model. By generalizing the results to the level of business model we also show how complex and diverse business models can be. Motivated by the lack of empirically grounded justification for the mixed business results of web auctions, this paper adopts a qualitative approach that includes telephone interviews with web auctions developed in different European countries.exchange processes;stakeholders;Web auctions