A decision support methodology to enhance the competitiveness of the Turkish automotive industry

This is the post-print (final draft post-refereeing) version of the article. Copyright @ 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Three levels of competitiveness affect the success of business enterprises in a globally competitive environment: the competitiveness of the company, the competitiveness of the industry in which the company operates and the competitiveness of the country where the business is located. This study analyses the competitiveness of the automotive industry in association with the national competitiveness perspective using a methodology based on Bayesian Causal Networks. First, we structure the competitiveness problem of the automotive industry through a synthesis of expert knowledge in the light of the World Economic Forum’s competitiveness indicators. Second, we model the relationships among the variables identified in the problem structuring stage and analyse these relationships using a Bayesian Causal Network. Third, we develop policy suggestions under various scenarios to enhance the national competitive advantages of the automotive industry. We present an analysis of the Turkish automotive industry as a case study. It is possible to generalise the policy suggestions developed for the case of Turkish automotive industry to the automotive industries in other developing countries where country and industry competitiveness levels are similar to those of Turkey

Towards solutions for assistive technology

Introduction What is assistive technology? The agreed World Health Organisation definition is "Assistive technology can be defined as “any piece of equipment, or product, whether it is acquired commercially, modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities” (WHO, 2011) The array of possible assistive technology products and solutions reflects the diversity of the needs of people with disabilities – ranging from digital technologies that can support social engagement, communication, employment, learning, memory, planning and safe guarding services through to products and devices that support mobility and personal care requirements. Typically as the complexities of assistive technology solutions increase, so do the costs and potential risks (if not appropriately set up or maintained). This document is primarily focused on the Assistive Technology solutions derived from aids and equipment. Home and vehicle modifications and prosthetics have not yet been explored in the same level of detail and will be subject of further work. Proposed approach The proposed assistive technology service approach has been developed in line with the strategic goals of the NDIA. It is one aspect of a broader strategic approach the NDIA has to using technologies to enhance its engagement and management of relationships, services and supports with suppliers, providers, participants and the Australian community. The NDIA’s goal is to use technology in its various forms to ensure that services, supports, and communications between all stakeholders are as streamlined as possible and services are timely and effective. This document outlines the elements of a proposed service delivery approach for individuals to access assistive technology solutions and is based on the three key objectives outlined above

Effects of Economic Interactions on Credit Risk

We study a credit risk model which captures effects of economic interactions on a firm's default probability. Economic interactions are represented as a functionally defined graph, and the existence of both cooperative, and competitive, business relations is taken into account. We provide an analytic solution of the model in a limit where the number of business relations of each company is large, but the overall fraction of the economy with which a given company interacts may be small. While the effects of economic interactions are relatively weak in typical (most probable) scenarios, they are pronounced in situations of economic stress, and thus lead to a substantial fattening of the tails of loss distributions in large loan portfolios. This manifests itself in a pronounced enhancement of the Value at Risk computed for interacting economies in comparison with their non-interacting counterparts.Comment: 24 pages, 6 figure

Equilibrium in Scoring Auctions

This paper studies multi-attribute auctions in which a buyer seeks to procure a complex good and evaluate offers using a quasi-linear scoring rule. Suppliers have private information about their costs, which is summarized by a multi-dimensional type. The scoring rule reduces the multidimensional bids submitted by each supplier to a single dimension, the score, which is used for deciding on the allocation and the resulting contractual obligation. We exploit this idea and obtain two kinds of results. First, we characterize the set of equilibria in quasi-linear scoring auctions with multi-dimensional types. In particular, we show that there exists a mapping between the class of equilibria in these scoring auctions and those in standard single object IPV auctions. Second, we prove a new expected utility equivalence theorem for quasi-linear scoring auctions.Auctions, Procurement

A model for assessing the impact of electronic procurement forms

This paper aims to contribute to the development of a model for assessing the direct and indirect impact of various forms of electronic procurement (EP) on a firm¿s integral purchasing (-related) costs. The model builds on existing classifications of purchasing costs and benefits and is illustrated by means of a number of empirical cases