A taxonomy for virtual enterprises

The purpose of this paper is to present a taxonomy able to contribute to building a framework within the domain of Virtual Enterprises (VE), to facilitate the sharing of knowledge and contributions to knowledge, as well as for trust building among VE stakeholders. A VE taxonomy currently does not exist, and this lack is felt in the ambiguous way that some concepts are addressed, leading to a fragment understanding that hinders the development of the science of VE integration and management. The structure of the taxonomy developed is based on the view of the system as a 5-tuple consisting of Input, Control, Output, Mechanism, and Process, which is the underlying system-view in the well-know IDEF0 diagramming technique. In particular, this taxonomy addresses the VE extended lifecycle that implies the use of a meta-organization called Market of Resources, as an original contribution to the VE theory and practice. The taxonomy presented does not repeat what the literature already includes, or the commonplaces, and it is constructed in a way to be easily complemented with other VE partial taxonomies that may be found in literature. Some suggestions for extensions to other interrelated domains (as evolution leaves taxonomies in an open or incompleteness state) are given in the text.

Canine rabies epidemiology in Araçatuba and neighborhood, Northwestern São Paulo State - Brazil

Epidemiological characteristics of canine rabies in the northwest region of São Paulo State (Araçatuba region), Brazil, from 1993 to 1997 are presented. Out of 1,984 dogs, a total of 351 (17.7%) were positive for rabies diagnosis; 89% (312/351) of these occurred in urban areas and 85% (266/312) of the urban positive cases were among owned dogs. The mean age of the rabid dogs was 34 months and 61% were male. Aggressive behavior was observed in 77% of rabid dogs, followed by lack of coordination and paralysis (42%) and 48% of these dogs were responsible biting people or other animals. Information about vaccination status was obtained from 182 records and 51% of rabid dogs were non-vaccinated. The number of unvaccinated rabid dogs indicates a low vaccination index and this factor added to the high dog/man ratio must have contributed to the canine rabies epizootic observed in the studied area.

Gender effects on performance in Bulgarian private enterprises

Many of the newly established private enterprises in transition economies in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) are owned and managed by women (Degtiar, 2000). However, there are limited research and knowledge on gender, management, and organization in CEE (Metcalfe and Afanassieva, 2005) and, particularly, on the performance of female-owned companies. Sporadic empirical evidence shows that female-owned companies have worse performance than male-owned companies in transition economies (Drnovsek and Glas, 2006; Aidis, 2006). The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, we study the factors that affect the performance of female-owned companies in a transition context. Second, we compare how performance varies between female and male-owned businesses in such a context. Combining the Feminist Theory, the Institutional Theory, and the literature on determinants of firm performance, we derive hypotheses about the determinants of the performance of female-owned companies and about gender differences in performance. The proposed hypotheses are tested in a sample of 501 private Bulgarian companies. Our results indicate that a number of individual, organizational, and environmental characteristics are significant determinants of the performance of both female and male-owned companies. Although there are gender differences in performance, they disappear when other factors are controlled for. We conclude with some recommendations for policy implications and place the current results in respect to future research.

Interpreting social enterprises

Institutional and organizational variety is increasingly characterizing advanced economic systems. While traditional economic theories have focused almost exclusively on profit-maximizing (i.e., for-profit) enterprises and on publicly-owned organizations, the increasing relevance of non-profit organizations, and especially of social enterprises, requires scientists to reflect on a new comprehensive economic approach for explaining this organizational variety. This paper examines the main limitations of the orthodox and institutional theories and asserts the need for creating and testing a new theoretical framework, which considers the way in which diverse enterprises pursue their goals, the diverse motivations driving actors and organizations, and the different learning patterns and routines within organizations. The new analytical framework proposed in the paper draws upon recent developments in the theories of the firm, mainly of an evolutionary and behavioral kind. The firm is interpreted as a coordination mechanism of economic activity, and one whose objectives need not coincide with profit maximization. On the other hand, economic agents driven by motivational complexity and intrinsic, non-monetary motivation play a crucial role in forming firm activity over and above purely monetary and financial objectives. The new framework is thought to be particularly suitable to correctly interpret the emergence and role of nontraditional organizational and ownership forms that are not driven by the profit motive (non-profit organizations), mainly recognized in the legal forms of cooperative firms, non-profit organizations and social enterprises. A continuum of organizational forms ranging from profit making activities to public benefit activities, and encompassing mutual benefit organizations as its core constituent, is envisaged and discussed.

KCCK-FM A Public Telecommunications Entity Owned and Operated by Kirkwood Community College, Cedar Rapids Iowa, June 30, 2003

Community College Audit Reports

Small business and disadvantaged business enterprises (DBE) in receiving nonfederal highway funding

Pursuant to H.F. 2460, passed during the 2010 session of the 83rd Iowa General Assembly, please find attached the recommendations regarding methods to track and assess the participation of small businesses and disadvantaged business enterprises (DBE) in receiving nonfederal highway funding.

Small Businesses and Disadvantaged Business Enterprises report

Pursuant to H.F. 2460, passed during the 2010 session of the 83rd Iowa General Assembly, attached are recommendations regarding methods to track and assess the participation of small businesses and disadvantaged business enterprises (DBE) in receiving nonfederal highway funding.

2014 Small Businesses and Disadvantaged Business Enterprises report

Pursuant to H.F. 2460, passed during the 2010 session of the 83rd Iowa General Assembly, attached are recommendations regarding methods to track and assess the participation of small businesses and disadvantaged business enterprises (DBE) in receiving nonfederal highway funding.

Iowa Historic Property Study: Iowana Farms Milk Company, 1416 State Street, City of Bettendorf, Scott County, Iowa, 2012

The Iowana Farms Milk Company factory building was considered to retain sufficient integrity and possess sufficient significance to be considered eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under Criteria A and C for its historical and architectural significance in the Bettendorf community. The Iowana Farms Milk Company was an important early to mid-twentieth-century business in Bettendorf, and was among the few that was not owned or operated by the Bettendorf Company. It was a strong and thriving business for many years, and its products were well known in the Quad Cities region. The importance of this property becomes even more significant when one considers that most of the buildings once associated with the actual Bettendorf Company, which was undeniably the most important business and industry in town, are now gone. As a result, the Iowana Farms Milk Company factory building was a physical vestige of the once-thriving commercial industries that made Bettendorf into a city in the twentieth century. This property was further significant for its representation of the evolution of the dairy industry in the twentieth century from farm to factory production. It also reflected the changes to the industry based on scientific discoveries, mechanical innovations, and governmental regulations related to improved sanitation and the pure milk movement. The Iowana Farms Milk Company represented a model plant for the time, and the marketing strategies it employed followed the trends of the industry. The Iowana Farms Milk Company plant had to be removed to make room for a new I-74 bridge over the Mississippi River at Bettendorf. The construction of the new bridge also required removal of the historic Iowa-Illinois Memorial Bridge. The documentation reported herein and for that of the Iowa-Illinois Memorial Bridge fulfills the requirements of the Memorandum of Agreement regarding the removal of these historic properties.

Maintenance and construction outsourcing in a public-owned electricity network company

Euroopan sähkösektori on ollut viimeisen vuosikymmenen suurten mullistusten kourissa. Sähkömarkkinoiden avautumisen jälkeen monopoliliiketoimintaa harjoittavien sähköyhtiöiden on ollut pakko parantaa tuottavuuttaan. Ratkaisuksi tähän on etsitty apua huolto- ja rakennustoimintojen ulkoistamisella. Ulkoistaminen on kuitenkin uusi menetelmä tällä sektorilla. Tämän tutkielman tavoitteena on selvittää syyt, jotka tanskalaisella sähköverkkoyhtiöllä oli huolto- ja rakennustoimintojen ulkoistamiseen, sekä löytää siitä saatavat hyödyt ja siihen sisältyvät riskit. Tutkimus suoritetaan käyttäen apuna kirjallisuutta, saatavilla olevia due diligence-, sekä muita raportteja ja analyysejä, sekä tapausta koskettavien tahojen haastatteluja.Lisäksi sähköverkkoalan asiantuntijoiden kanssa käytyjä konsultointia käytetäänselvitykseen. Tutkimus osoittaa, että perimmäiset ajurit huolto- ja rakennustoimintojen ulkoistamiseen tulivat lainmuutosten ja vapautuneiden sähkömarkkinoiden asettamista paineista. Kunnallisessa organisaatiossa parantaa tehokkuutta ulkoistamalla jotain toimintoja yksityisomisteiselle palvelun tuottajalle. Muut ulkoistamisesta odotetut hyödyt olivat alentuneet kustannukset, virtaviivaisempi organisaation ja sähköverkkoyhtiön tehottomista osista eroon pääseminen ennen sen myymistä.

What is the current state of cloud service research and its promise for the future? A systematic literature review

The information technology (IT) industry has recently witnessed the proliferation of cloud services, which have allowed IT service providers to deliver on-demand resources to customers over the Internet. This frees both service providers and consumers from traditional IT-related burdens such as capital and operating expenses and allows them to respond rapidly to new opportunities in the market. Due to the popularity and growth of cloud services, numerous researchers have conducted studies on various aspects of cloud services, both positive and negative. However, none of those studies have connected all relevant information to provide a holistic picture of the current state of cloud service research. This study aims to investigate that current situation and propose the most promising future directions. In order to determine achieve these goals, a systematic literature review was conducted on studies with a primary focus on cloud services. Based on carefully crafted inclusion criteria, 52 articles from highly credible online sources were selected for the review. To define the main focus of the review and facilitate the analysis of literature, a conceptual framework with five main factors was proposed. The selected articles were organized under the factors of the proposed framework and then synthesized using a narrative technique. The results of this systematic review indicate that the impacts of cloud services on enterprises were the factor best covered by contemporary research. Researchers were able to present valuable findings about how cloud services impact various aspects of enterprises such as governance, performance, and security. By contrast, the role of service provider sub-contractors in the cloud service market remains largely uninvestigated, as do cloud-based enterprise software and cloud-based office systems for consumers. Moreover, the results also show that researchers should pay more attention to the integration of cloud services into legacy IT systems to facilitate the adoption of cloud services by enterprise users. After the literature synthesis, the present study proposed several promising directions for cloud service research by outlining research questions for the underexplored areas of cloud services, in order to facilitate the development of cloud service markets in the future.

Multinational drug corporations, intellectual property rights and the Canadian state : a historical and critical analysis

This study critically analyzes the historical role and influence of multinational drug cotpOrations and multinational corporations in general; the u.s. government and the Canadian state in negotiating the global recognition ofIntellectual Property Rights (IPR) under GATT/NAFTA. This process began in 1969 when the Liberal government, in response to high prices for brand-name drugs amended the Patent Act to introduce compulsory licensing by reducing monopoly protection from 20 to seven years. Although the financial position ofthe multinational drug industry was not affected, it campaigned vigorously to change the 1969 legislation. In 1987, the Patent Act was amended to extend protection to 10 years as a condition for free trade talks with the u.s. Nonetheless, the drug industry was not satisfied and accused Canada of providing a bad example to other nations. Therefore, it continued to campaign for global recognition ofIPR laws under GATT. Following the conclusion of the GATTI Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights agreement (TRIPS) in 1991, the multinational drug industry and the American government, to the surprise of many, were still not satisfied and sought to implement harsher conditions under NAFTA. The Progressive Conservative government readily agreed without any objections or consideration for the social consequences. As a result, Bill C-91 was introduced. It abandoned compulsory licenses and was made retroactive from December 21, 1991. It is the contention of this thesis that the economic survival of multinational corporations on a global scale depends on the role and functions of the modem state. Similarly, the existence of the state depends on the ideological-political and socioeconomic assistance it gives to multinational corporations on a national and international scale. This dialectical relation of the state and multinational corporations is explored in our theoretical and historical analysis of their role in public policy.

Certification of community-based forest enterprises (CFEs): limits of the Brazilian experiences

The Brazilian Amazon is one of the world’s largest tropical forests. It supplies more than 80 % of Brazil’s timber production and makes this nation the second largest producer of tropical wood. The forestry sector is of major importance in terms of economic production and employment creation. However, the Brazilian Amazon is also known for its high deforestation rate and for its rather unsustainably managed timber resources, a fact which puts in the balance the long-term future of the forestry sector in the region. Since the mid- 1990s, with strong support from World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the number of tropical forests certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) has significantly increased. This is especially true for projects sponsored by large scale companies. The number of community- based forest management projects has also increased. Certification of community-based forest enterprises (CFEs) was initially a goal for the sponsors and community members. Certification is viewed as a way to reach alternative timber markets. In Brazil, the state of Acre has the highest concentration of CFEs certified by FSC. Most of them have been implemented with the support of environmental NGOs and public funds. Environmental NGOs strongly defend the advantages of certification for communities; however, in reality, this option is not that advantageous. Despite all the efforts, the number of participants in each project remains low. Why is this occurring? In this paper, we analyze the underlying motives of a few individual’s participation in CFEs certification projects. We aim to present and discuss some factors that shape the success of CFEs and their later certification. The results are based on surveys conducted in two certified CFEs in the state of Acre.

Efficiency in Central Public Sector Enterprises in Kerala

For the analysis of productivity, capacity utilisation and profitability the data relating to the manufacturing central public sector enterprises in Kerala have been collected from the published annual reports of the companies, public enterprises surveys of Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Economic Review of State Planning Board (SPB) and statistical review of central government enterprises by Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). Primary data have been collected by conducting personal interview with the high and middle level executives.