Choice of Flexible Production Technologies Under Strategic Delegation

This work analyzes a managerial delegation model in which firms can choose between a flexible production technology which allows them to produce two different products and a dedicated production technology which limits production to only one product. We analyze whether the incentives to adopt the flexible technology are smaller or greater in a managerial delegation model than under strict profit maximization. We obtain that the asymmetric equilibrium in which only one firm adopts the flexible technology can be sustained under strategic delegation but not under strict profit maximization when products are substitutes. We extend the analysis to consider welfare implications.

Cost-Saving production technologies and strategic delegation

This work analyzes a managerial delegation model in which firms that produce a differentiated good can choose between two production technologies: a low marginal cost technology and a high marginal cost technology. For the former to be adopted more investment is needed than for the latter. By giving managers of firms an incentive scheme based on a linear combination of profit and sales revenue, we find that Bertrand competition provides a stronger incentive to adopt the cost-saving technology than the strict profit maximization case. However, the results may be reversed under Cournot competition. We show that if the degree of product substitutability is sufficiently low (high), the incentive to adopt the cost-saving technology is larger under strict profit maximization (strategic delegation).

Using Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Technologies to Detect and Map Two Aquatic Macrophytes

This paper describes the light reflectance characteristics ofwaterhyacinth [Eichhornia crassipes (Mort.) Solms] and hydrilla [Hydrilla verticillata (L.F.) Royle] and the application of airborned videography with global positioning system (GPS) and geographic information system (GIS) technologies for distinguishing and mapping the distribution of these two aquatic weeds in waterways of southern Texas. Field reflectance measurements made at several locations showed that waterhyacinth generally had higher near-infrared (NIR) reflectance than associated plant species and water. Hydrilla had lower NIR reflectance than associated plant species and higher NIR reflectance than water. Reflectance measurements made on hydrilla plants submerged below the water surface had similar spectral characteristics to water. Waterhyacinth and hydrilla could be distinguished in color-infrared (CIR) video imagery where they had bright orange-red and reddish-brown image responses, respectively. Computer analysis of the imagery showed that waterhyacinth and hydrilla infestaions could be quantified. An accuracy assessment performed on the classified image showed an overall accuracy of 87.7%. Integration of the GPS with the video imagery permitted latitude/longitude coordinates of waterhyacinth and hydrilla infestation to be recorded on each image. A portion of the Rio Grande River in extreme southern Texas was flown with the video system to detect waterhyacinth and hydrilla infestaions. The GPS coordinates on the CIR video scenes depicting waterhyacinth and hydrilla infestations were entered into a GIS to map the distribution of these two noxious weeds in the Rio Grande River.