Aid and Governance in Vulnerable States: Bangladesh and Pakistan since 1971

Bangladesh and Pakistan had very different experiences with aid after 1971. Politics in Pakistan was less inclusive in terms of opportunities for intermediate (middle- and lower-middle-) class political entrepreneurs, and the dominance of military aid to Pakistan exacerbated the problem by allowing the top leadership to continue to rule without sharing much power with these classes. This not only had negative effects on the evolution of Pakistan’s politics but also slowed down the growth of a broad-based manufacturing sector. In contrast, in Bangladesh the less centralized organization of political power and less concentrated forms of aid allowed intermediate-class political entrepreneurs to improve their access to resources and created opportunities for many of them to enter productive manufacturing activities such as the garments industry. Differences in patterns of aid can help to explain significant differences in economic and political outcomes in the two countries. These experiences challenge conventional ideas about the relationship among aid, good governance, and security. Designing aid policies so that aid can assist developing countries in improving their economic and political viability requires a better understanding of the complex relationships between aid and the political economies of recipient countries

Negotiation processes within inter-organizational alliances

This paper describesthe negotiation component of E-Alliance, a software infrastructure defined for supporting negotiation activities in concurrent inter-organizational alliances. The E-Alliance’s main intent is to preserve the autonomy of organizations grouped in an alliance. The purpose of this work is to offer support for small and medium enterprises which cannot or do not want to fulfill a big contract alone. This approach is illustrated by a sample scenario where partners are printshops grouped into an alliance to better accomplish customers’ demands.negotiation, middleware, virtual enterprises, multi-agent systems, interaction protocol

The Implementation of an Intelligent Logistics Tracking System Utilizing RFID

Due to globalization and the advancement of technology, the differences are lessened among businesses in terms of IT capabilities and product quality. Operation cost has become a critical key factor of success that determines company’s profit level, as well as its competence in the market. Under the environment of electronic-commerce, logistics in the supply chain ensures a stable supply of stocks to satisfy customer’s demands. An efficient supply chain requires a sound inventory system and operates in coordination with well designed shipping processes. Present shipping process uses barcode in tracking the flow of materials; however, scanning barcode one at a time is tedious and inefficient. Recently, RFID has been regarded as an important technology that influences the growth of global industries in the near future. RFID is able to effectively reduce the overall cost of logistics. However, application of RFID on supply chain management is still at its infant stage. Therefore, this research attempts to develop a prototype of a Smart Logistics Tracking System (SLTS) utilizing RFID. The proposed system aims to replace barcode with RFID, eradicate the time-consuming scanning procedure and ensures an efficient flow of materials. SLTS provides a cargo tracking platform that reports real-time location of the cargo and its flow

From supply chains to demand networks. Agents in retailing: the electrical bazaar

A paradigm shift is taking place in logistics. The focus is changing from operational effectiveness to adaptation. Supply Chains will develop into networks that will adapt to consumer demand in almost real time. Time to market, capacity of adaptation and enrichment of customer experience seem to be the key elements of this new paradigm. In this environment emerging technologies like RFID (Radio Frequency ID), Intelligent Products and the Internet, are triggering a reconsideration of methods, procedures and goals. We present a Multiagent System framework specialized in retail that addresses these changes with the use of rational agents and takes advantages of the new market opportunities. Like in an old bazaar, agents able to learn, cooperate, take advantage of gossip and distinguish between collaborators and competitors, have the ability to adapt, learn and react to a changing environment better than any other structure. Keywords: Supply Chains, Distributed Artificial Intelligence, Multiagent System.Postprint (published version

Non-profit Sector in Pakistan: Government Policy and Future Issues

The non-profit sector remains relatively small and underdeveloped in Pakistan. During the decade of the 1990s, it has demonstrated some nascent growth resulting from a number of favourable factors like the return to democracy, the growing push towards deregulation and privatisation, the process of globalisation and the emergence of international coalitions of civil society and the deterioration in the financial position of governments which has limited the public provision of social services. The objective of this paper is to examine the role played by government policy in fostering this process of growth of the non-profit sector of Pakistan and to review the key issues faced by the sector at this time. Of particular concern are, first, the overall posture of the government towards the non-profit sector, the types of policies in place, and the underlying philosophy or principles that guide policy-making. Second, the forms of support to the non-profit sector by different levels of government. Third, the posture of international organisations and supranational governments towards local non-profit organisations and, forth, the major issues facing the non-profit sector at the present time. The objective of this paper is to analyse government policy towards the nonprofit sector in Pakistan over the last two decades and review some major issues facing the sector at the present time. It is important to note that analysis presented here does not cover the period of current government.

The design and implementation of the VRPML support environment.

Proses pembangunan penslan berkait rapat dengan turutan langkah yang mesti dilakukan oleh jurutera perisian untuk memenuhi matlamat kejuruteraan perisian. Untuk menghasilkan proses yang tepat dan lengkap, proses pembangunan perisian boleh dimodel dan dilari menggunakan bahasa pennodelan (PML) dengan dibantu oleh sistem proses bantuan (PSEE). Software processes relate to the sequences of steps that must be performed by software engineers in order to pursue the goals of software engineering. In order to have an accurate representation and implementation of what the actual steps are, software processes may be modeled and enacted by a process modeling language (PML) and its process support system (called the Process Centered Environments i.e. PSEE)

Project Management in the German Trade Sector: A (Preliminary) Action Research Framework For The Introduction Of Computer Assisted Management Of Projects In Small And Medium Sized Enterprises

This paper describes an framework for the introduction of project management in the German trade sector, at a time when businesses are increasingly involved in inter-organisational activities, using an action research approach. The paper initially describes the project management issues particular to small and micro enterprises and explains why action research is conceptually the most appropriate research method for this project. The framework developed for the carrying out of this project is based on the necessary phases of the project and the resulting research cycles. Among the many questions raised, it is important to examine why project management has not been popular with this part of the production sector. Additionally we need to explore the special needs of the trade sector with its particular structure, the education of the employees, the size of the businesses, the manpower involved, typical projects and organisational issues

Information visibility and its effect on supply chain dynamics

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2000.Includes bibliographical references (p. 61-64).Supply chains are nonlinear dynamic systems, the control of which is complicated by long, variable delays in product and information flows. In this thesis, we present a novel framework for improving the visibility of information in supply chains by reducing the delays in information flow. We first analyze the growth and evolution of production and operations management software over the past three decades, and the current trends in their development, coupled with recent advances in radio frequency technology, wireless communications, data representation methods, and the internet. Information visibility is identified as one of the key elements for successful implementation of any such software. We analyze the dynamics of a supply chain under different scenarios of information visibility and forecasting decisions with the help of simulations. Possible improvements in supply chain costs are identified, provided information visibility. We propose a framework to achieve information visibility in the supply chain using radio frequency tags, tag readers, product identification codes, an object description language, and the internet.by Yogesh V. Joshi.S.M