Technical efficiency in the retail food industry: the influence of inventory investment, wage levels, and age of the firm

The objective of this paper is to estimate technical efficiency in retailing; and the influence of inventory investment, wage levels, and firm age on this efficiency. We use the output supermarket chains’ sales volume, calculated isolating the retailer price effect on its sales revenue. This output allows us to estimate a strictly technical concept of efficiency. The methodology is based on the estimation of a stochastic parametric function. The empirical analyses applied to panel data on a sample of 42 supermarket chains between 2000 and 2002 show that inventory investment and wage level have an impact on technical efficiency. In comparison, the effect of these factors on efficiency calculated through a monetary output (sales revenue) shows some differences that could be due to aspects related to product prices.

Stability switches in a first-order complex neutral delay equation

Stability of the first-order neutral delay equation x’ (t) + ax’ (t – τ) = bx(t) + cx(t – τ) with complex coefficients is studied, by analyzing the existence of stability switches.

On some solutions of a functional equation related to the partial sums of the Riemann zeta function

In this paper, we prove that infinite-dimensional vector spaces of α-dense curves are generated by means of the functional equations f(x)+f(2x)+⋯+f(nx)=0, with n≥2, which are related to the partial sums of the Riemann zeta function. These curves α-densify a large class of compact sets of the plane for arbitrary small α, extending the known result that this holds for the cases n=2,3. Finally, we prove the existence of a family of solutions of such functional equation which has the property of quadrature in the compact that densifies, that is, the product of the length of the curve by the nth power of the density approaches the Jordan content of the compact set which the curve densifies.

Numerical resolution of Emden's equation using Adomian polynomials

Purpose: In this paper the authors aim to show the advantages of using the decomposition method introduced by Adomian to solve Emden's equation, a classical non‐linear equation that appears in the study of the thermal behaviour of a spherical cloud and of the gravitational potential of a polytropic fluid at hydrostatic equilibrium. Design/methodology/approach: In their work, the authors first review Emden's equation and its possible solutions using the Frobenius and power series methods; then, Adomian polynomials are introduced. Afterwards, Emden's equation is solved using Adomian's decomposition method and, finally, they conclude with a comparison of the solution given by Adomian's method with the solution obtained by the other methods, for certain cases where the exact solution is known. Findings: Solving Emden's equation for n in the interval [0, 5] is very interesting for several scientific applications, such as astronomy. However, the exact solution is known only for n=0, n=1 and n=5. The experiments show that Adomian's method achieves an approximate solution which overlaps with the exact solution when n=0, and that coincides with the Taylor expansion of the exact solutions for n=1 and n=5. As a result, the authors obtained quite satisfactory results from their proposal. Originality/value: The main classical methods for obtaining approximate solutions of Emden's equation have serious computational drawbacks. The authors make a new, efficient numerical implementation for solving this equation, constructing iteratively the Adomian polynomials, which leads to a solution of Emden's equation that extends the range of variation of parameter n compared to the solutions given by both the Frobenius and the power series methods.