The boomerang returns? Accounting for the impact of uncertainties on the dynamics of remanufacturing systems

Recent years have witnessed companies abandon traditional open-loop supply chain structures in favour of closed-loop variants, in a bid to mitigate environmental impacts and exploit economic opportunities. Central to the closed-loop paradigm is remanufacturing: the restoration of used products to useful life. While this operational model has huge potential to extend product life-cycles, the collection and recovery processes diminish the effectiveness of existing control mechanisms for open-loop systems. We systematically review the literature in the field of closed-loop supply chain dynamics, which explores the time-varying interactions of material and information flows in the different elements of remanufacturing supply chains. We supplement this with further reviews of what we call the three ‘pillars’ of such systems, i.e. forecasting, collection, and inventory and production control. This provides us with an interdisciplinary lens to investigate how a ‘boomerang’ effect (i.e. sale, consumption, and return processes) impacts on the behaviour of the closed-loop system and to understand how it can be controlled. To facilitate this, we contrast closed-loop supply chain dynamics research to the well-developed research in each pillar; explore how different disciplines have accommodated the supply, process, demand, and control uncertainties; and provide insights for future research on the dynamics of remanufacturing systems

Does Fund Size Matter: An Analysis of Small and Large

Mutual funds have become a staple for retirement savings and have received much research attention. Bond funds, though, have received little attention to date, and the effects of fund size on performance are still in dispute. Using cross sectional and time series regression analysis, the performance of high yield and corporate bond funds are contrasted, with potential causes for the differences identified. A few fundamental economic variables are found to explain a large portion of fund returns. Bond index returns are found to have the greatest impact of any variable on fund returns, with the most pronounced effect on large corporate bond funds. The impact of fund size on performance is also examined, with evidence suggesting that after a point fund returns are negatively impacted as net assets grow. This poses a key microeconomic question regarding the benefits and costs of fund scale

New Directions in Compensation Research: Synergies, Risk, and Survival

We describe and use two theoretical frameworks, the resource-based view of the firm and institutional theory, as lenses for examining three promising areas of compensation research. First, we examine the nature of the relationship between pay and effectiveness. Does pay typically have a main effect or, instead, does the relationship depend on other human resource activities and organization characteristics? If the latter is true, then there are synergies between pay and these other factors and thus, conclusions drawn from main effects models may be misleading. Second, we discuss a relatively neglected issue in pay research, the concept of risk as it applies to investments in pay programs. Although firms and researchers tend to focus on expected returns from compensation interventions, analysis of the risk, or variability, associated with these returns may be essential for effective decision-making. Finally ,pay program survival, which has been virtually ignored in systematic pay research, is investigated. Survival appears to have important consequences for estimating pay plan risk and returns, and is also integral to the discussion of pay synergies. Based upon our two theoretical frameworks, we suggest specific research directions for pay program synergies, risk, and survival

An Improved Stock Price Prediction using Hybrid Market Indicators

In this paper the effect of hybrid market indicators is examined for an improved stock price prediction. The hybrid market indicators consist of technical, fundamental and expert opinion variables as input to artificial neural networks model. The empirical results obtained with published stock data of Dell and Nokia obtained from New York Stock Exchange shows that the proposed model can be effective to improve accuracy of stock price prediction

A Conceptual Framework of Reverse Logistics Impact on Firm Performance

This study aims to examine the reverse logistics factors that impact upon firm performance. We review reverse logistics factors under three research streams: (a) resource-based view of the firm, including: Firm strategy, Operations management, and Customer loyalty (b) relational theory, including: Supply chain efficiency, Supply chain collaboration, and institutional theory, including: Government support and Cultural alignment. We measured firm performance with 5 measures: profitability, cost, innovativeness, perceived competitive advantage, and perceived customer satisfaction. We discuss implications for research, policy and practice

Effects of Macronutrients on Seed Quality and Profitability Analysis of Sunflower Production in Northwest Pakistan

Potassium (K) and phosphorus (P) application to sunflower (Helianthus annus L.) reduced cost of production, increased seed oil and protein concentration, yield and net returns on the K and P deficient soils in Northwest Pakistan. Field experiment was conducted at the New Developmental Research Farm of NWFP (North West Frontier Province) Agricultural University Peshawar, Pakistan during summer 2006. The experiment was carried out in a randomized complete block design with split plot arrangements using three replications. Six levels of K (0, 25, 50, 75, 100 and 125 kg ha-1) were kept in main plots while four levels of P (0, 45, 90 and 135 kg ha-1) were kept in sub-plots. Increase in K and P levels enhanced seed oil concentration, on the other hand, increase in P level increased seed protein concentration but increase in K level decreased seed protein concentration. Both oil and protein yields per unit area increased significantly with increase in K and P levels. The increase in oil and protein yields of sunflower was mainly attributed to the improvement in yield components and significant increase in seed yield. The highest net returns of Rs. 25268 (grain yield basis) and Rs. 31274 (oil yield basis) was obtained from those plots that received a combination of 100 kg K + 45 kg P ha-1. Application of 100 kg K ha-1 + 45 kg P ha-1 was therefore, recommended for profitable sunflower production in the agro-climatic conditions in Northwest Pakistan.sunflower, potassium, phosphorus, oil, protein, economic analysis, Northwest Pakistan, Farm Management, International Development, International Relations/Trade, Production Economics, Productivity Analysis,