Visible success and invisible failure in post-crisis reform in the Republic of Korea : interplay of the global standards, agents, and local specificity

The reform package in post-crisis Korea was one of the most comprehensively designed and decisively implemented. Though impressed by the quick recovery, many are now raising doubts about real changes in the economy, as the result of a cost-benefits analysis: While the business climate is more stable and supportive, the economy is suffering from weak investment and rising unemployment. This study views the Korean story as one of"visible success and invisible failure,"based on the following findings: First, while some new laws were enacted and several quantifiable targets met, little real progress was made in changing institutional conventions, habits, and beliefs, such as enhancing transparency in management or trust in labor relations. Second, the reform process involved tension between global standards and local specificity, which accounts for the mixed results. Third, special interest politics at the implementation stage, plus the complexities caused by increasing democratization and globalization, have undermined the authorities'implementation capacity, which accounts for uneven outcomes of the reform. While globalization necessitates increasing flexibility, Korean managers are now facing much stronger labor unions. The outcome is not a fully flexible but segmented labor market, divided between the core, unionized workers and unorganized peripheral workers, and between the one overprotected and the other underprotected. Fourth, it is important to have an effective system of legislative bargaining to help resolve disputes. Only with this institutional vehicle will special interest groups reach some consensus. Korea tried to overhaul its financial system and achieve substantial financial liberalization in the early 1990s but those attempts were partly aborted and partly distorted, which paved the way for the financial crisis in 1997. This was due to the lack of clear consensus, without which reforms are more likely to be aborted or be unsuccessful. Fifth, implementation problems stem from institutional complementarities and inappropriate sequencing. One logical sequence might be banking reform, corporate governance, labor relations, and then finally business restructuring. Now, an emerging question is whether the reform blueprint was right. Post-crisis Korea just tried to be more market- or Anglo-Saxon model-oriented without paying attention to growth potential. While firms have now lowered their debt ratios, they are not borrowing to fund investments. The issue of right or wrong blueprint underscores the need to define the reform goal correctly. The goals of reform should not just be a move toward a market-oriented economy but toward a growth-oriented one or a pro-growth market-oriented one.Environmental Economics&Policies,Banks&Banking Reform,Children and Youth,Economic Theory&Research,National Governance

Combined Pricing and Portfolio Option Procurement

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/90569/1/poms1255.pd

General multiprocessor task scheduling.

Abstract: Most papers in the scheduling field assume that a job can be processed by only one machine at a time. Namely, they use a one-job-on-one-machine model. In many industry settings, this may not be an adequate model. Motivated by human resource planning, diagnosable microprocessor systems, berth allocation, and manufacturing systems that may require several resources simultaneously to process a job, we study the problem with a one-job-on-multiplemachine model. In our model, there are several alternatives that can be used to process a job. In each alternative, several machines need to process simultaneously the job assigned. Our purpose is to select an alternative for each job and then to schedule jobs to minimize the completion time of all jobs. In this paper, we provide a pseudopolynomial algorithm to solve optimally the two-machine problem, and a combination of a fully polynomial scheme and a heuristic to solve the three-machine problem. We then extend the results to a general m-machine problem. Our algorithms also provide an effective lower bounding scheme which lays the foundation for solving optimally the general m-machine problem. Furthermore, our algorithms can also be applied to solve a special case of the three-machine problem in pseudopolynomial time. Both pseudopolynomial algorithms (for two-machine and three-machine problems) are much more efficient than those in the literature. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 46: 57-74, 1999 INTRODUCTION Due to the popularity of just-in-time and total quality management concepts, scheduling has played an important role in satisfying customer's expectation for on-time delivery. In the last four decades, many papers have been published in the scheduling area. There is a common assumption in the scheduling literature of a one-job-on-one-machine pattern. That is, at a given time, each job can be processed on only one machine. In many industry applications, this may not be an adequate model. Namely, a job may be processed simultaneously by several machines. For example, in semiconductor circuit design workforce planning, a design project is to be processed by m persons (a team of people). The project contains n tasks, and each task can be worked on by one of a set of alternatives, where each alternative contains one or more persons working simultaneously on that particular task. Task 1 can either be handled by person 1 and person 2 together, by person 1 and person 3 together, or just handled by person 1 alone. The processing time of each task depends on the group being assigned to handle the task. A group is formed when a set of people is working on a particular task, but a person may not belong to a fixed group all the time. Our goal is to assign these n tasks to m persons in order to minimize the project finishing time. Other applications can be found in (i) the berth allocation problems, where a large vessel may occupy several berths for loading and/or unloading, (ii) diagnosable microprocessor systems (Krawczyk and Kubale [20]), where a job must be performed on parallel processors in order to detect faults, (iii) manufacturing, where a job may need machines, tools, and people simultaneously, and (iv) scheduling a sequence of meetings where each meeting requires a certain group of people (Dobson and Karmarker [13]). In all the above examples, one job may need to be processed by several machines simultaneously. In literature we call this multiprocessor task scheduling (Drozdowski [15]) or a one-job-on-multiplemachine problem (Lee and Cai [24]). We are interested in the problem with a one-job-on-multiple-machine pattern. To describe the problem concisely we introduce the notation first. There are n jobs to be processed on m machines, and N(i) : the number of alternative machine sets to which job J i can be assigned, t i,I : the processing time of job J i if it is assigned to the processors in set I, where I is a set of machines (for example, t i,12 is the processing time of J i assigned to Processors 1 and 2). In this paper, job and task will be used interchangeably, and machine and processor will also be used interchangeably. For example, we may have four jobs to be processed by three machines. The alternative machine sets that can process each job are shown in the following matrices. J 1 can be processed by one of six alternatives (N(1) ϭ 6): {M 1 ,M 2 ,M 3 }, {M 1 ,M 2 }, {M 1 ,M 3 }, {M 2 ,M 3 }, {M 2 } or {M 3 }, with corresponding processing times t 1,123 ϭ 2, t 1,12 ϭ 3, t 1,13 ϭ 3, t 1,23 ϭ 3, t 1,2 ϭ 6, and t 1,3 ϭ 8. Therefore, if J 1 is processed by the first alternative: {M 1 ,M 2 ,M 3 } (represented by the first column in the first matrix where an entry of 1 in row j means that M j belongs to alternative 1), then the processing time is t 1,123 ϭ 2. Our purpose is to schedule jobs with a particular objective function. Vol. 46 (1999) In general, for the m-machine problem, the maximum possible number of alternative sets for Actually, for notational convenience we can always assume that ͪ for all i and let t iI ϭ ϱ for those I such that job i cannot be processed in parallel by processors with indices in I. In the above example, t 2,12 , t 2,13 , and t 2,3 are all equal to ϱ. In this paper, we are particularly interested in m ϭ 2 and 3. Hence for all i, we have N(i) ϭ 3 and 7 for m ϭ 2 and 3 respectively. There are two special cases that have been studied in the scheduling literature. In the first special case, N(i) ϭ 1 for all i. Namely, for each job a specifically fixed set of machines is assigned to it. We call this problem a fixed multiprocessor task scheduling problem. The second class of problems assumes that each job may require a fixed number of processors working simultaneously, yet the machines required are not specified. In the example above, if only t 1,12 , t 1,13 , t 1,23 , t 2,123 , t 3,1 , t 3,2 , t 3,3 , t 4,1 , t 4,2 , and t 4,3 are finite numbers, then it is equivalent to the problem where J 1 needs to be processed by two machines (any two machines simultaneously with processing time 3), J 2 by three machines simultaneously (with processing time 4) and jobs J 3 and J 4 by only one machine (with processing times 8 and 4, respectively). We call this problem a sized multiprocessor task scheduling problem. Blazewicz, Weglarz, and Drabowski To refer to the problem under study more precisely, we follow the standard notation used in scheduling literature. We use Pm͉set j ͉C max to denote the general problem of minimizing the makespan of multiprocessor tasks in the m-parallel-machine problem, where each job can be processed by a set of alternatives, and each alternative contains one or more machines simultaneously. Also, we use Pm͉fix j ͉C max to denote the first special case where the alternative assigned to each job has been fixed in advance. The paper is organized in the following way. In Section 1, we study the problem characteristics and provide some optimality properties. Section 2 discusses the two-machine problem. In particular, we provide a pseudopolynomial algorithm with running time O(nT 0 ) to solve the 59 Chen and Lee: General Multiprocessor Task Scheduling problem optimally. Section 3 discusses the three-machine problem. We provide a pseudopolynomial algorithm with running time O(nT 0 2 ) to find an effective lower bound for the optimal makespan and to solve optimally a special case of the problem. Both of our pseudopolynomial algorithms significantly improve previous results in the literature. We also provide a combination of a fully polynomial scheme and a heuristic method, with time complexity O(n 3 / 2 ) and error bound (3/2)(1 ϩ ), to solve the general three-machine problem. Section 4 extends our results to the m-machine problem. Finally, Section 5 concludes with a summary and a discussion of some future research topics

Ocean container transport in global supply chains: Overview and research opportunities

This paper surveys the extant research in the field of ocean container transport. A wide range of issues is discussed including strategic planning, tactical planning and operations management issues, which are categorized into six research areas. The relationships be- tween these research areas are discussed and the relevant literature is reviewed. Representative models are selected or modified to provide a flavour of their functions and application context, and used to explain current shipping practices. Future research opportunities bearing in mind the emerging phenomena in the field are discussed. The main purpose is to raise awareness and encourage more research into and application of operations management techniques and tools in container transport chains

Assessment of Creative Thinking of Hong Kong Undergraduate Students Using the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking

[EN] Creativity has been a key graduate attribute and transferrable skill for the universities nowadays. A better understanding of freshmen students’ level of creativity thinking facilitates the cultivation of the ways for nurturing the development of creativity in students throughout their university education studies. The purpose of this study was to investigate creative thinking abilities of first-year undergraduates in Hong Kong using the Torrance Tests of Creativity Thinking (TTCT) – a commonly known assessment for creativity. A total of 492 first-year undergraduates at a university in Hong Kong were asked to complete TTCT Figural Form consisting of picture construction, picture completion and lines activities. Generally, the creative potential of Hong Kong undergraduates was well above the average. The students demonstrated their abilities in generation of a number of relevant ideas (fluency), producing novel responses (originality), abstract thinking (abstractness of titles), and open-minded thinking (premature closure). They exhibited creative strength of, for example, flexible imagination, thinking with senses, and thinking beyond boundaries. However, students’ elaborative thinking, metaphorical-thinking and sense of humor had a lot of room for improvement. Based on the assessment results, some implications on the possible institutional strategies for nurturing creativity among students during university education were discussed.Ng, AWY.; Lee, C. (2019). Assessment of Creative Thinking of Hong Kong Undergraduate Students Using the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking. En HEAD'19. 5th International Conference on Higher Education Advances. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 1-8. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAD19.2019.9051OCS1

Scheduling arrivals to a stochastic service delivery system using copositive cones

10.1287/opre.2013.1158Operations Research613711-726OPRE

Appointment sequencing: Why the Smallest-Variance-First rule may not be optimal

We study the design of a healthcare appointment system with a single physician and a group of patients whose service durations are stochastic. The challenge is to find the optimal arrival sequence for a group of mixed patients such that the expected total cost of patient waiting time and physician overtime is minimized. While numerous simulation studies report that sequencing patients by increasing order of variance of service duration (Smallest-Variance-First or SVF rule) performs extremely well in many environments, analytical results on optimal sequencing are known only for two patients. In this paper, we shed light on why it is so difficult to prove the optimality of the SVF rule in general. We first assume that the appointment intervals are fixed according to a given template and analytically investigate the optimality of the SVF rule. In particular, we show that the optimality of the SVF rule depends on two important factors: the number of patients in the system and the shape of service time distributions. The SVF rule is more likely to be optimal if the service time distributions are more positively skewed, but this advantage gradually disappears as the number of patients increases. These results partly explain why the optimality of the SVF rule can only be proved for a small number of patients, and why in practice, the SVF rule is usually observed to be superior, since most empirical distributions of the service durations are positively skewed, like log-normal distributions. The insights obtained from our analytical model apply to more general settings, including the cases where the service durations follow log-normal distributions and the appointment intervals are optimized

Amplitude-only measurements of a dual open ended coaxial sensor system for determination of complex permittivity of materials

This paper describes a novel permittivity measurement technique using dual open ended coaxial sensors. The magnitudes of the reflection coefficient from two open ended coaxial sensors were used to determine complex reflection coefficients and permittivity of a sample under test

Visible Success and Invisible Failure in Post-Crisis Economic Reform in Korea : Interplay of the Global Standards, Agents and Local Specificity

Post-crisis reform was one of the most comprehensive and decisive reform that was implemented in Korea. This paper develops a model of reform dynamics. This paper subsequently uses this model to discuss the following arguments. First, while reform tends to achieve some nominal success in terms of making new laws and several quantifiable targets, it has not been able to achieve much success in really changing institutional conventions, habit and beliefs, such as enhancing transparency in the management or trust in labor relations. Second, it had mixed results as a result of the reform process involved tension between global standard and local specificity. Third, one source of the implementation difficulty in reform has to do with the institutional complementarities, and we need to take a proper sequence in reforms. One possible logical sequence seems to be moving from banking reform, corporate governance, labor relations, and finally to business restructuring. The paper concludes by tossing up a question of whether the Korean response (the reform blueprint) was right