A GENERALIZED STOCHASTIC DOMINANCE PROGRAM FOR THE IBM PC

A microcomputer program to perform Generalized Stochastic Dominance (GSD), Quasi-Second Degree Dominance (SSD), and Quasi-First Degree Stochastic Dominance (FSD) is described. The program is designed to run on IBM-compatible personal computers with a Hercules or CGA graphics adapter. It is menu-driven and has options for GSD, quasi-FSD, quasi-SSD, graphics, and calculations of premiums associated with use of dominant distributions.Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Humans and artificial intelligence: Rivalry or romance?

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been developing at a frightening pace. It is debatable to what extent it has improved our lives - being able to use geolocation and search for the best restaurants or places of interest is great; however, AI is at the same time eliminating plenty of jobs, fast. A frequently cited report points out that a staggering 47 per cent of jobs in the US will be automated soon. Another study suggests that 45 per cent of the daily tasks currently done by humans could be automated if current trends continue. These numbers are inconceivable, considering that the worst case of unemployment to be recorded was during the Great Depression, in 1929, where an estimated 25 per cent of the population was out of work

Do Shareholders Value Green Information Technology Announcements?

Using the natural resource-based view (NRBV) and signaling theory, we conducted an event study using the Fama-French four-factor (FFM4) model to determine how shareholders react to company announcements about adopting information technology (IT) to address environmental issues. We found that green IT announcements generate positive abnormal returns and increase share trading volume. Initiatives that use IT to support decision making (ITDSS) cause positive stock market reactions. Firms with good environmental performance records enjoy positive market returns from ITDSS and direct IT assets and infrastructure (ITASSETS) announcements. In contrast, shareholders react negatively to announcements regarding sustainable products and services (SPDTSVC). Combining the NRBV with signaling theory provides deeper theoretical insights than either theory alone. The findings could serve as the basis for further research and theory development on the different types of green IT and impacts on market value. The results help explain how firm characteristics and different types of green IT announcements impact market value, and they have significant implications for how firms plan and allocate their resources to support green initiatives

Energy Efficiency Research And Development: Consumption- And Environment-Centric Perspectives

The quest to develop technologies with minimal adverse environment impact has led to investments in research and development (R&D) targeted at developing energy-efficient technologies or improving the energy efficiency of existing technologies. Despite the increased focus on energy efficiency R&D, studies that examine their impact on environmental performance over time are lacking. Invoking the rebound effect and the ecological modernization theory, we hypothesize relationships between energy efficiency R&D with energy consumption, and emissions, and test them using panel data for OECD countries from 1987 to 2009. Econometric analysis suggests that energy efficiency R&D is negatively associated with per capita emission only. This suggests that any investment in energy efficiency achieves the objective of reducing the adverse environmental impact, thus positively contributing to the environment. The results further suggest that concerns about energy efficiency R&D may be misplaced as it is reducing adverse environmental impact without any significant association with energy consumption. Thus, the rebound effect, which postulates that increased energy efficiency results in more energy consumption, is not valid in the present context. We further examine the growth of improvement in environmental performance over time and show that the effectiveness of energy efficiency R&D remains consistent over time. This suggests that carbon neutral policies are plausible. Implications for research and practice are discusse

Sustainable Information Systems: Does It Matter?

Using the Natural Resource Based View (NRBV) as our theoretical lens, green IS or sustainable IS is conceptualized as comprising the different dimensions of sustainability practices that can create competitive advantage for the organization. This study examines (i) the impact of adoption of sustainable IS on organizational performance; and (ii) the impact of the extent of adoption of sustainable IS on organizational performance. Analyzing secondary data on sustainable IS and performance measures of 115 global organizations, we find that the adoption of sustainable IS is positively associated with market valuation and innovativeness but not with profitability. However, sustainable IS organizations that have greater extent of adoption realize better profitability, market valuation and innovativeness. Implications of results for research and practice are discussed

Operational framework for healthcare supplier selection under a fuzzy multi-criteria environment

PURPOSE: This paper studies how a logistics service provider managing the suppliers for several hospitals can innovatively improve the supplier selection process. The paper examines the attribute set for healthcare supplier selection such as response time, reliability, stock quantity, in order to realize optimal cube utilization, cost, and customer satisfaction. This operational framework developed can help a logistics service provider in supplier order management based on the selected criteria set, criteria weight calculation, and supplier ranking under a fuzzy multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) environment. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: We adopt a multi-objective decision making approach based on three main criteria of service, cost, and disruption risk. The following modelling approaches are used – (i) the criteria weight are found using fuzzy AHP, and (ii) the ranking of the suppliers are found through fuzzy TOPSIS. FINDINGS: Sometimes a logistics service provider needs to include multiple suppliers for one product instead of the current single supplier policy, in order to share the risks especially when dealing with public health emergencies and uncertainty in disruptions. VALUE: This is a practical industrial problem dealing with various facets of MCDM being applied on actual data, so as to bring to bear the actual challenges of using MCDM in dealing with healthcare supplier management. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS: Some future extensions and current limitations of this work will include the sole suppliers, namely, suppliers who are exclusive providers of certain unique products mandated by the healthcare regulators, and to include the effects of shelf life and perishability into the products such as the biodegradable sutures. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: This study can help the healthcare logistics service provider to use data judiciously to select and manage the suppliers optimally, without the unnecessary incurrence of buffer stock at the warehouse, which can lead a high degree of obsolescence

Using AI to screen, search, and structure environmental, social, and governance data

Investors face at least two challenges when making environmental, social, and governance (ESG) decisions. One is the discrepancy in definitions, scoring methodologies, and assessments. The second one is the dearth of timely and accurate data. Terence Tse, Marissa Lum, Danny Goh and Mark Esposito write that AI carries the promise to provide an immediate solution to mitigate the data problem