Quantitative economics as a scientific approach to the solution of problems of a complex nature – in honor of Professor Willem Karel M. Brauers on the occasion of his 90th birthday

In the previous century Quantitative Economics substantially evolved in the direction of Mathematical Economics, Econometrics and Operational Research. Professor Willem Karel M. Brauers sees it mainly as a scientific approach to the solutions of problems of a complex nature by Methods such as Input-Output Analysis and Multi-Objective Optimization. At the occasion of his 90th birthday this article highlights the research of Professor Willem Karel M. Brauers, presents a review of his extensive scientific work and lists some of his publications

Eficiência dos serviços contábeis na geração de riqueza e qualidade de vida

This study assessed the efficiency of accounting services in generating wealth and quality of life in Brazilian states. For the analysis, the following variables were considered: number of counters, values of GDP industry, services, agriculture and cattle raising and taxes, indexes of HDI longevity and education - of the Brazilian states. These proxies were used in order to verify in which states accounting services are more efficient to boost the economy and contribute to a better quality of life, represented by longevity and education. The Multi-Objective Optimization by Ratio Analysis (MOORA) method was used to perform this evaluation. Through the application of this method, an efficiency ranking was elaborated which presented the State of São Paulo in first place and the State of Acre in last place. The results also showed that the largest number of meters reside in the States of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Rio Grande do Sul, Paraná Bahia and Santa Catarina. This disparity in the distribution of the number of meters and in the values of the GNP items was not so strongly evidenced in the HDI elements, since these indexes were above the national average in approximately half of the 27 members of the federation. This study contributes to the valuation of accounting services showing that they can also interfere in the generation of wealth of states and indirectly contribute to improving the quality of life of people. Keywords: Accounting profession. Gross Domestic Product. Human Development Index. Multi-Objective Optimization by Ratio Analysis.Este estudo avaliou a eficiência dos serviços contábeis na geração de riqueza e qualidade de vida nos Estados brasileiros. Para a análise foram consideradas as variáveis: número de contadores, valores do PIB indústria, serviços, agropecuária e impostos, índices do IDH longevidade e educação - dos Estados brasileiros. Essas proxies foram utilizadas com o intuito de verificar em quais Estados os serviços contábeis são mais eficientes em impulsionar a economia e contribuir para uma melhor qualidade de vida, representada pela longevidade e pela educação. Para realizar essa avaliação aplicou-se o método Multi-Objective Optimization by Ratio Analysis (MOORA). Por meio da aplicação desse método elaborou-se um ranking de eficiência que apresentou o Estado de São Paulo em primeiro lugar e o Estado do Acre em último lugar. Os resultados também evidenciaram que o maior número de contadores reside nos Estados de São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Rio Grande do Sul, Paraná Bahia e Santa Catarina. Essa disparidade na distribuição do número de contadores e nos valores dos itens do PIB não ficou tão fortemente evidenciada nos elementos do IDH, pois estes índices ficaram acima da média nacional em aproximadamente a metade dos 27 membros da federação. Esse estudo contribui para a valorização dos serviços contábeis demonstrando que eles podem interferir também na geração de riqueza dos Estados e indiretamente contribuir para a melhoria da qualidade de vida das pessoas. Palavras-chave: Profissão contábil. Produto Interno Bruto. Índice de Desenvolvimento Humano. Multi-Objective Optimization by Ratio Analysis

Relação entre o ranking econômico financeiro e de mercado de empresas da BM&F Bovespa

In order to verify the relationship between the economic and financial ranking of Capital Market Information and Communications Technology companies, a descriptive, document and quantitative research was conducted by analyzing a sample of 13 companies from the Information Technology and Telecommunications sectors in years 2008 to 2012, noting four financial economic indicators and four indicators of capital market. One can check that every year analyzed showed positive correlation coefficient, ie, that the better the company´s position in a ranking, the better positioned it tends to be in another ranking analyzed, so we can conclude that there is significant relationship positive relationship between economic performance and financial performance of the capital market.Com o intuito de verificar a relação entre o ranking econômico financeiro de Mercado de Capitais das empresas de Tecnologia da Informação e Telecomunicações, foi realizada uma pesquisa descritiva, documental e quantitativa, analisando uma amostra de 13 companhias dos setores de Tecnologia da Informação e Telecomunicações nos anos de 2008 a 2012, observando quatro indicadores econômicos financeiros e quatro indicadores do mercado de capitais. Pode-se verificar que todos os anos analisados apresentaram coeficiente de correlação positivo, ou seja, quanto melhor o posicionamento da empesa em um ranking, melhor posicionada a mesma tende a estar no outro ranking analisado, assim pode-se concluir que há relação significante positiva entre o desempenho econômico financeiro e desempenho de mercado de capitais

Application of MADM methods as MOORA and WEDBA for ranking of FMS flexibility

Flexibility has been cited as a key factor to enhance the performance of flexible manufacturing sys-tem (FMS). The main aim of this paper is to rank the flexibility of FMS. The ranking decisions are complex in the manufacturing field to analyze a number of alternatives based on a set of some attributes. In this research, two MADM methods i.e. MOORA (i.e. multi-objective optimization on the basis of ratio analysis) and weighted Euclidean distance based approach (WEDBA) are used for ranking of flexibility in FMS for new part development. MOORA approach can give de-cision with or without considering relative importance of attributes i.e. attribute weights. While in WEDBA, integrated attribute weights are used for evaluation which included the subjective and objective weights of attributes. Objective weights are calculated by entropy method and subjective weights are calculated by analytic hierarchy process. MOORA is applied in two ways i.e. ratio based and reference point analysis. Ranking of fifteen flexibility of FMS done on the basis fifteen variables which effect flexibility of FMS. The results of MOORA and WEDBA approach shows that product flexibility has the top most flexibility in fifteen flexibilities and programme flexibility has the least impact in fifteen flexibilities

ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE: RANKING CREDIT PICSOS IN SOUTHERN BRAZIL

This study seeks to gauge the economic and financial performance of credit Public Interest Civil Society Organizations (PICSO) in Southern Brazil, establishing a ranking of the same. The research methods employed are characterized as descriptive and documentary, with a quantitative approach to data analysis. A study was carried out on microcredit PICSOs in the region, generating a sample composed of 22 such organizations during the 2012 year. The MOORA method was applied for data analysis. The results show that Credioeste attained first place in the ranking of organizational efficiency, while also last place in terms of the indicator Return on Equity (ROE), with a distance-to-zero index of 0.53. Garantioste scored zero in the Return on Assets (ROA) and Financial Dependence indicators, or, rather, the organization displayed the best results, in those regards, of the entities analyzed. In respect to the financial health of the PICSOs under analysis, the study showed that six of them are troubled (i.e. reporting net losses), smaller in size than the other organizations in the sample and, beside this, beset by liquidity problems.

Determining the utility in management by using multi-criteria decision support tools: a review

The multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM) utility-determining techniques are considered to be new development techniques that have been recently presented, extended and used by some scholars. In the current work, an attempt is made to present a systematic review of methodologies and applications of the MCDM utilitydetermining techniques discussed in recent years. The researchers reviewed 86 papers, describing the use of the MCDM utility-determining techniques, which were published in the period 2004–2015 in more than 42 scientific journals. They mainly refer to the area of management and are extracted from online databases, such as Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar. According to the classification used by the researchers, the papers were grouped based on the five main MCDM utility-determining techniques, including stepwise weight assessment ratio analysis (SWARA), the weighted aggregated sum product assessment (WASPAS), the additive ratio assessment (ARAS), the method of complex proportional assessment (COPRAS), multi-objective optimisation by ratio analysis (MOORA) and MULTIMOORA (MOORA plus a full multiplicative form). Furthermore, the papers were categorised taking into account their authors, publication date, journal name, the technique and method used, research objectives, research gap and problem, solution and modelling and, finally, the results and findings. The results of this study show that, in 2013, scholars published more papers on the MCDM utility-determining techniques than in other years. It is also worth noting that a group of COPRAS methods (COPRAS-Grey and COPRAS-Fuzzy) was ranked number one among the methods used in this area. With regard to journals, the Journal of Civil Engineering and Management was ranked first in the list of journals, which contributed to this review