International competitiveness power and human development of countries

Human development should be the ultimate objective of human activity and its aim should be healthier, longer, and fuller lives. It is expected that if the competitiveness of a country is suitably managed, human welfare will be enhanced as a consequence. The research described here seeks to explore the relationship between the competitiveness of a country and its use for human development. For this purpose, 45 countries were evaluated using data envelopment analysis, where the global competitiveness indicators are taken as input variables and the human development index indicators as output variables. A detailed analysis is also conducted for the emerging economies

Antecedents of salesperson effectiveness and efficiency performance: A data envelopment analysis

The objective of this dissertation was to (1) measure salesperson efficiency; (2) investigate both personal and organizational factors that determine salesperson efficiency; and (3) investigate both personal and organizational factors that determine salesperson effectiveness. Salesperson efficiency was assessed by data envelopment analysis (DEA). Two different DEA models were employed in order to increase the reliability of the efficiency results. Antecedents of salesperson efficiency and effectiveness were tested using Tobit regression analysis and ordinary least square regression analysis, respectively. These antecedents include not only personal level variables such as working smart, working hard, learning goal orientation, and performance goal orientation, but also organizational variables such as organizational culture, sales force control systems, and training. The sample frame consisted of a national sample of insurance agents who subscribed to Life Insurance Selling magazine. A self-report questionnaire was mailed to a stratified random sample of 1,000 potential respondents. The life insurance professionals were sent the study questionnaire three times. The resulting response rate was 23.00% in the present study. At the individual level of analysis, this study provides evidence that engaging in working smart behaviors enhances salesperson efficiency. While working hard was found to positively influence salesperson effectiveness, working smart was found to make salespeople more efficient and effective in selling. These results are a distinct contribution to the personal selling research literature. The results also indicate that a learning goal orientation enhances salesperson efficiency and effectiveness. In addition, the relationship between performance goal orientation and effectiveness was found to be moderated by salesperson self-efficacy. At the organizational level, this study found that the clan organizational culture type negatively influences salesperson effectiveness, while the market culture type positively influences efficiency. While past studies have found that organizational culture directly influenced organizational performance, the current study was the first to find a direct influence on individual performance. Additionally, behavior control systems were found to enhance salesperson efficiency and positively influence, although marginally, salesperson effectiveness. Finally, the application of data envelopment analysis in sales research was extended. This study showed how DEA can be used to measure individual salesperson efficiency and subsequently identify those variables that influence this important measure of salesperson performance

Concept definition study for recovery of tumbling satellites. Volume 1: Executive summary, study results

The first assessment is made of the design requirements and conceptual definition of a front end kit to be transported on the currently defined Orbital Maneuvering Vehicle (OMV) and the Space Transportation System Shuttle Orbiter, to conduct remote, teleoperated recovery of disabled and noncontrollable, tumbling satellites. Previous studies did not quantify the dynamic characteristics of a tumbling satellite, nor did they appear to address the full spectrum of Tumbling Satellite Recovery systems requirements. Both of these aspects are investigated with useful results

A New Approach for Evaluating the Order Fulfillment Process Options of B2C Horizontal Portals Using DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis)

By using the traditional statistical or operations research methods for deciding the product-delivery logistics, the portal companies are not using their competitive advantages on being more e-enabled, informed and computationally able than their traditional counterparts. In this paper, we show some typical characteristics of the portals like their handling of a huge range of goods in terms of transactional values or volumes. Subsequently, we have identified three types of generic product-delivery logistics of the portals with various intermediate entities or trading partners. Then, a completely different approach using an extreme point method rather than the traditional central-tendency-based statistical methods has been suggested

Regional efficiency of knowledge economy in the new EU countries: The Romanian and Bulgarian case

The economic success is more and more based on upon the effective utilization of intangible assets such as knowledge, skills and innovative potential as the key resource for competitive advantage. For transition countries, such as Romania and Bulgaria, the efficiency of research and development activities is particularly important, since technological progress is one of the core aspects of economic growth. In this article we describe the common features of the two countries, but also the existing differences in respect with knowledge based economy. There are significant regional differences within the countries and marginal regions must close the gap with more developed regions. The paper analyzes research efficiency at the regional level for NUTS2 regions from Romania and Bulgaria between 2003 and 2005, applying a DEA framework. Our main finding is that Bulgarian regions are more efficient in R&D activities compared to Romanian ones. The only Romanian efficient region is Bucuresti Ilfov, while the other two efficient regions are rather small Bulgarian regions, with fewer resources. They show a remarkably high level of research efficiency, whereas some of the larger regions (both from Romania and Bulgaria) lag behind.regions; knowledge economy; transition countries; efficiency; DEA

Measuring Software Process: A Systematic Mapping Study

Context: Measurement is essential to reach predictable performance and high capability processes. It provides support for better understanding, evaluation, management, and control of the development process and project, as well as the resulting product. It also enables organizations to improve and predict its process’s performance, which places organizations in better positions to make appropriate decisions. Objective: This study aims to understand the measurement of the software development process, to identify studies, create a classification scheme based on the identified studies, and then to map such studies into the scheme to answer the research questions. Method: Systematic mapping is the selected research methodology for this study. Results: A total of 462 studies are included and classified into four topics with respect to their focus and into three groups based on the publishing date. Five abstractions and 64 attributes were identified, 25 methods/models and 17 contexts were distinguished. Conclusion: capability and performance were the most measured process attributes, while effort and performance were the most measured project attributes. Goal Question Metric and Capability Maturity Model Integration were the main methods and models used in the studies, whereas agile/lean development and small/medium-size enterprise were the most frequently identified research contexts.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2013-46928-C3-3-RMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2016-76956-C3-2- RMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2015-71938-RED

REGIONAL EFFICIENCY OF THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY IN THE NEW EU COUNTRIES: THE ROMANIAN AND BULGARIAN CASE

Economic success is ever more based upon the effective utilization of intangible assets such as knowledge, skills and innovative potential as the key resource for competitive advantage. For transitional countries, such as Romania and Bulgaria, the efficiency of research and development activities is particularly important, since technological progress is one of the core aspects of economic growth. In this article we describe the common features of the two countries, but also the existing differences with respect to the knowledge based economy. There are significant regional differences within the countries and marginal regions must also close the gap with the more developed regions. This paper analyzes research efficiency at the regional level for NUTS2 regions from Romania and Bulgaria between 2003 and 2005, applying a DEA framework. Our main finding is that Bulgarian regions are more efficient in R&D activities compared to Romanian ones. The only Romanian efficient region is Bucuresti Ilfov, while the other two efficient regions are rather small Bulgarian regions, with fewer resources. They show a remarkably high level of research efficiency, whereas some of the larger regions (both from Romania and Bulgaria) lag behind.regions, knowledge economy, transition countries, efficiency, DEA

Improving efficiency of decision making units through BSC-DEA technique

Performance evaluation is one of the most important techniques to prioritize different decision making units. Data envelopment analysis (DEA), as a non-parametric method, plays an important role for measuring relative efficiency. Balanced score card, on the other hand, is another method to evaluate a business plan based on non-financial perspectives. The integrated BSC-DEA takes advantage of the advantages of both methods' features. In this paper, we propose a BSC-DEA method to rank different decision making units. We consider different financial criteria such as profit-margin, return on assets along with non-financial criteria such as customer satisfaction, advanced services, employee skills to compare the performance of different banks. The results are analyzed and discussed, which could be used for making better decisions