Capacity and entry issues in online exchanges

With the advent of open standards and Internet technologies, the number of sellers who can participate in online exchanges is greatly increased. We model the competition between identical sellers vying for the same business, and find that there exists a mixed-strategy equilibrium in prices. The results help us understand the dynamics between a seller’s capacity and his motivation to participate in an auction.     

A note on price and quality competition between asymmetric firms

This paper analyzes the impact of asymmetry between firms on the outcome of price and quality competition from a microeconomic viewpoint. Consumers purchase a product based on not only its price but also its quality level; therefore, two firms compete in determining their prices and quality levels to maximize their profits. The asymmetry arises from the difference in consumers’ loyalty to each firm; that asymmetry then determines a character of differentiation between firms. Our purpose is to show how asymmetry influences competition under varying consumers’ price- and quality-sensitivity. In doing so, we extend earlier work in the area of price and quality competition. We show that in both the moderately quality-sensitive and price-sensitive markets, higher consumers’ sensitivity as well as lower consumers’ loyalty to any firm leads to intense competition, resulting in a decrease of both firms’ equilibrium profits. On the other hand, in highly quality-sensitive market, asymmetry compels the smaller firm to change its competitive strategy. In general, this is more beneficial to the larger firm, as the smaller firm’s profit tends to decline. In the worst case, the smaller firm is driven out of business under equilibrium.     

Developments in differential game theory and numerical methods: economic and management applications

This paper argues that the literature applying differential games in economics and management science has aimed to a large extent for analytical results. One reason is that the latter are usually seen as general, in the sense that they do not rely on specific values of the model’s parameters. However, they come at the cost of restricting the choice of the model to the class of so-called tractable differential games. Our aim is to discuss briefly the tools available for obtaining analytical results and to give an account of a number of (recent and earlier) developments in DG that, by and large, have not been used in these fields. Research supported by NSERC, Canada.     

Reward systems for intra-organizational knowledge sharing

Knowledge sharing is one of the most critical steps in knowledge management activities. To achieve effective knowledge sharing, it is important to encourage workers to share their knowledge for the best interests of the firm. However, successfully exerting this encouragement is very challenging. In this paper, we develop a formal model and analyze reward systems for intra-organizational knowledge sharing. Specifically, two common forms of reward systems are considered; individual-based reward which is based on the individual contribution of valuable knowledge, and group-based reward which is based on the contribution of the whole group through knowledge sharing to the firm performance. Through the analysis, we derive a simple optimal individual-based reward system which depends on the amount and the productivity of shared knowledge. The system balances the benefit from knowledge sharing of each worker with the costs related with it. Next, it is found that group-based reward is not only less efficient than individual-based reward, but it also subject to a potential productivity problem, in which workers with more productive knowledge do not participate in knowledge sharing. Finally, it is shown that several organizational factors can complement reward systems in increasing the performance of KM and can mitigate the productivity problem. Insights from our analysis could help managers to understand important considerations in rewarding knowledge sharing, and could provide them with guides to implement reward systems.     

Characteristic time scales of tick quotes on foreign currency markets: an empirical study and agent-based model

Power spectrum densities for the number of tick quotes per minute (market activity) on three currency markets (USD/JPY, EUR/USD, and JPY/EUR) for periods from January 1999 to December 2000 are analyzed. We find some peaks on the power spectrum densities at a few minutes. We develop the double-threshold agent model and confirm that stochastic resonance occurs for the market activity of this model. We propose a hypothesis that the periodicities found on the power spectrum densities can be observed due to stochastic resonance.     

Process scale high performance liquid chromatography. Part III: Optimization procedure and economics of silica matrices

Summary An analytical procedure to optimise the solvent system for a given high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) separation is described; it also distinguishes any preference between normal and reversed phase systems. These results can be applied directly to process scale HPLC. If intermediate pure samples are required a feasibility study and a proving trial continue the assessment. Support lifetime, cycle time, yield and purity are assessed practically and from this information processing costs can be calculated. Typical costs are given based upon reasonable assumptions. This work was conducted in the Chemical Technology Unit, University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, P. O. Box 88, Manchester M60 1QD, U.K.     

High-pressure (2+2)cycloaddition of toluene-4-sulphonyl isocyanate to glycals

High-pressure (2+2)cycloaddition of toluene-4-sulphonyl isocyanate to glycals is examined. Reactions proceed regiospecifically to afford single products in case of all 3-substituted glycals. Upon heating or even after standing at room temperature adducts undergo retro-addition to give starting glycals. Various aspects of the cycloaddition are discussed, especially ret-ro-reaction and rearrangement of β-lactams to α,β-unsaturated amides.     

Optimization of the decentralized cash management problem

This paper treats the problem of determining optimal level of transaction balances in a decentralized firm. In conformity with the practices of such firms, cash generated at dispersed location is concentrated at central locations prior to short-term investment and borrowing. Under deterministic assumptions, an optimal transfer/investment is derived and a simple procedure for determining optimal parameters is described.