Liam O’Callaghan, David M. Doyle, Diarmuid Griffin and Muiread Murphy
Anne Marie Ivers, James Byrne and PJ Byrne
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the data profile of manufacturing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with specific emphasis on understanding the data readiness of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the data profile of manufacturing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with specific emphasis on understanding the data readiness of SMEs for discrete event simulation (DES) modelling.
Design/methodology/approach
Research was conducted through a review of literature and a survey research strategy of manufacturing SMEs.
Findings
This paper illustrates the data profile of manufacturing SMEs. Insight is provided on the types of data collected by SMEs, the collection methods used and how these data are stored by the SMEs. Additionally size and age effects are considered. Based on this data profile, conclusions are made regarding an indication of data readiness of manufacturing SMEs for DES modelling.
Research limitations/implications
This research is focused specifically on manufacturing SMEs in Ireland, other countries and sectors are not investigated.
Practical implications
This paper provides owner-managers and senior management insight into the data profile of manufacturing SMEs and their potential for utilisation of DES for performance improvement and decision support.
Originality/value
This paper addresses the gaps that exist in the knowledge of the data profile of manufacturing SMEs and consequently the status of this profile with regard to the readiness of SMEs for DES modelling.
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Keywords
Gary R. Skoog and James E. Ciecka
Prior to 1982, work life tables in the United States could be viewed as the labor force counterpart of life tables. Most work in this area emanated from the US Bureau of Labor…
Abstract
Prior to 1982, work life tables in the United States could be viewed as the labor force counterpart of life tables. Most work in this area emanated from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and was based on the assumptions that men entered and left the labor force only once in their lives and women only entered and left the labor force as a result of a change in their marital or parental status. The work life model for men especially was demographic in nature since departure from the labor force was akin to death in a life table in the sense that labor force reentry was not possible, just as reentry into a life table cannot occur after death. We now refer to this type of construct as the conventional model of work life. Tables produced by Fullerton and Byrne (1976), using data from 1970, illustrate this approach to work life expectancy (WLE).
Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Tenn. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are…
Abstract
Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Tenn. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.
Tamorah Hunt, Joyce Pickersgill and Herbert Rutemiller
This chapter provides a historical overview of the data and methodologies used to measure worklife and the usefulness of such statistics for projecting future retirement behavior…
Abstract
This chapter provides a historical overview of the data and methodologies used to measure worklife and the usefulness of such statistics for projecting future retirement behavior. Section 2 discusses the calculation of worklife expectancy (WLE), beginning with a review of the data and method of calculation using what has come to be known as the conventional model. Section 3 looks at the WLE results using the increment–decrement model and subsequent models. Sections 4 and 5 revisit the conventional model and compare the results of the conventional model to the increment-decrement model. Section 6 of the chapter discusses the data and methodologies used to calculate years to final separation (YFS), and Section 7 discusses the use of both WLE and YFS statistics in projecting future retirement behavior.
This paper aims to recall, with specific developments in international relations, how the major powers failed to avoid prolonged political conflict that teetered for a…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to recall, with specific developments in international relations, how the major powers failed to avoid prolonged political conflict that teetered for a half‐century on the brink of war.
Design/methodology/approach
Evocation of developments tending to confirm reciprocal hostility instead of cooperation between partners in international enterprise.
Findings
Foresight and determination, often translatable into expression of trust, may ensure the success of an undertaking. The Cold War, with its political as well as psychological origins, was not such a case.
Research limitations/implications
The period's history, now already detailed, remains incomplete. This paper is an effort to supplement other reconstructions.
Originality/value
Planners, strategists and designers may profit from the material reviewed to avoid hostile interpretation by partners in future efforts of combined initiative.
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Michael Schwartz and Debra R. Comer
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s creation of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) in 1999 inspired great hopes. As we explain, however, the noble initiatives of…
Abstract
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s creation of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) in 1999 inspired great hopes. As we explain, however, the noble initiatives of the UNGC are undermined by the arms industry. Arms are expensive. The expenditure on arms diverts a nation’s “resources from ‘productive’ to ‘unproductive’ ends.” The arms industry is a major employer in most arms manufacturing nations. It generates much needed revenue for those countries. Therefore, attempts at thwarting the supply of arms are doomed to failure. Instead of halting the supply of arms, we argue as to the advantages of restraining the demand for arms. Michael Walzer is the only moral philosopher who has considered the ethics of appeasement. We explore Walzer’s arguments for appeasement and consider how a United Nations Secretary-General could appease those nations demanding arms. In doing so, the UN Secretary-General would make it possible for the UNGC to achieve what was initially envisaged for the UNGC.
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Lord Young, Secretary of State for Employment (centre), shows his support for the hotel and catering industry at Spring Open 86 Exhibition. He was visiting the stand of the Hotel…
Abstract
Lord Young, Secretary of State for Employment (centre), shows his support for the hotel and catering industry at Spring Open 86 Exhibition. He was visiting the stand of the Hotel & Catering Training Board, where a new open learning management programme was on display. The nine units which make up the programme together offer “the new way to catering management”, according to Open Learning manager Peter Critten (right). Open learning students successful in a unit are rewarded with the Training Board's Open Learning certificate. The management programme aims to provide greater access to qualifications for the 350,000 managers and supervisors working in catering. It has been funded by MSC's Open Tech project, led by director David Tinsley (left).
This paper, which is both case study and conceptual in nature, presents a relative cost-benefit model to explain why people engage in criminal activity. It then uses the model to…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper, which is both case study and conceptual in nature, presents a relative cost-benefit model to explain why people engage in criminal activity. It then uses the model to motivate a discussion of the major policy approaches to recidivism reduction and desistance, or decreasing the frequency and severity of criminal activity, a more nuanced measure of harm reduction than the binary concept of recidivism typically used to evaluate program success. Several private programs have successfully reduced recidivism and improved measures of desistance but remain applicable only to those who self-select into them. Changed policies and incentives, however, could stimulate social entrepreneurs to search for programs applicable to additional segments of the prison population.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper describes case studies informed by economic theories of crime and incentive alignment. Most approaches to recidivism reduction/desistance have failed, but several programs, including the DOE Fund and PEP, have proven extremely effective: the first by employing former convicts in starter jobs and the latter by teaching inmates about entrepreneurship and general business skills and mentoring them after release.
Findings
Successful cases cannot simply be scaled up because inmates self-select into the programs. Instead, policymakers should encourage further competition and innovation in the field by paying NGOs each week they manage to keep the formerly imprisoned persons in their charge alive and out of the criminal justice system.
Research limitations/implications
Case study and theoretical. Not yet tried in the real world.
Practical implications
Lower recidivism, more desistance for the same budget.
Social implications
Humans will be better treated than currently.
Originality/value
Instead of offering a specific recidivism reduction panacea, this paper suggests that incentive alignment and competition for funding will encourage nonprofit NGOs to discover which programs work best for different types of inmates.
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Examines Laughlin Currie's experiences in helping to implement the New Deal, a new monetary system of Roosevelt's administration implemented during the 1930s.
Abstract
Examines Laughlin Currie's experiences in helping to implement the New Deal, a new monetary system of Roosevelt's administration implemented during the 1930s.