Defining Demographic Change in Locational Planning Problems

Since population, which actually represents demand in any organised or rearranged service system, is the final target and recipient of every planning strategy or policy action, the success of locational analysis and the locational planning process, is largely determined upon the decision makers' ability to estimate the study area's future population size and distribution. Such estimations can be demographically achieved through the analysis and extrapolation into the future of carefully measured birth, death and migration rates according to observed trends and tendencies of the relevant socio-economic factors that affect them. As opposed to traditional generalisations and recent practices, which deal with population as a whole, the approach presented in this paper focuses on each individual's attitude towards the issue of intended births, which when aggregated formulate a fertility rate. More specifically, certain socio-economic characteristics, based on questionnaire data, are analysed using discrete choice models in order to estimate the prospective family-size desires. In this respect, a birth-rate choice model is derived through the assessment of the expected number of children to be born in a household during a specific time period and with regard to its socio-economic identity. Moreover, modifications of the above characteristics generate alternative family-size scenarios and thus differing population forecasts, which in turn can lead to unforeseen solution strategies and thus a more sophisticated and pragmatic decision-making process when dealing with facility-location problems both in the public and the private sector.Locational Planning; Discrete Choice models; Population Projections; Greece

Decentralisation: a One-to-many Relationship. The Case of Greece

There is no doubt that even a cursory examination of the indisputable efforts for decentralization in Greece, will reveal that the main problem lies within the ever expanding bureaucratic labyrinth of its political decision making processes and the underlying political and administrative system that generates and supports them. In short, this political system seems to strive for inclusiveness and broad acceptance, rather than theoretical consistency or elegance, setting the government incapable to play a truly coordinating role and exhibit the admistrative wisdom that it implies. Seeking in this respect, to accommodate new demands as they emerge by means, insofar as possible, that leave previous arrangements (programs and administrative regulations) undisturbed, which in turn involve the least possible disruption for public enterprises, as well as the least possible inconvenience and annoyance for institutions and individuals alike, who have built their life styles around the expectation of system stability. However, in terms of its administrative system, Greece has the same characteristics and problems with most of the Mediterranean European Countries. Consequently, the potential of future decentralization policies in a regional level, as they are expressed by either the elimination of regional disparities or the formulation of regional restructuring strategies, should be seen with respect to the extended political framework within which they have to be implemented. In our study, this is defined as the Mediterranean frontier. Within this framework, this paper reviews the historical course and critically presents the results of the proclaimed decentralization efforts in Greece. Specifically, certain political and socioeconomic indicators are utilized, in order both to micro evaluate the regional disparities within the country and to generate a parallel macro comparison with the other Mediterranean member states of the European Union.Decentralization; Greece

Incentive Mechanisms for Hierarchical Spectrum Markets

In this paper, we study spectrum allocation mechanisms in hierarchical multi-layer markets which are expected to proliferate in the near future based on the current spectrum policy reform proposals. We consider a setting where a state agency sells spectrum channels to Primary Operators (POs) who subsequently resell them to Secondary Operators (SOs) through auctions. We show that these hierarchical markets do not result in a socially efficient spectrum allocation which is aimed by the agency, due to lack of coordination among the entities in different layers and the inherently selfish revenue-maximizing strategy of POs. In order to reconcile these opposing objectives, we propose an incentive mechanism which aligns the strategy and the actions of the POs with the objective of the agency, and thus leads to system performance improvement in terms of social welfare. This pricing-based scheme constitutes a method for hierarchical market regulation. A basic component of the proposed incentive mechanism is a novel auction scheme which enables POs to allocate their spectrum by balancing their derived revenue and the welfare of the SOs.Comment: 9 page

Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs): Towards a New Paradigm

Assessing Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) only in terms of economic indicators cannot be acceptable anymore. It is suggested that for an appropriate way to deal with SMEs there is a need for a new paradigm based on an integrated-holistic approach both in terms of the way they operate and of how they are managed. This paper presents the conceptualization of this new paradigm, supported by five principals substantiating it, as well as by the evolution of SMEs through time. In addition, the new paradigm in addressing any SME demands that a set of attributes should be taken into consideration that are related to: the advantages it exhibits; the enterprising environment within which it operates; and the greening aspects it applies. These three aspects represent different manifestations of “a whole”, the dialectic entity of an SME. The proposed paradigm clarifies that in order to achieve an effective and efficient approach to SMEs, the nature of all the factors involved in determining their successful operation have to be fully understood and taking into consideration. Keywords: SMEs Paradigm, Integration, Holistic Approach, SMEs Attributes. DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/13-13-03 Publication date:July 31st 2021