Understanding service experience in non-profit performing arts: Implications for operations and service management

Recent research in the non-profit performing arts has shown that marketing efforts designed to increase revenue from ticket sales are not achieving the results required to sustain the performing arts. This paper applies operations management analytical techniques to the non-profit performing arts to increase understanding of operational issues and inform service management strategy. The paper takes a two-study idiographic approach. Implementing a modified version of service transaction analysis (STA), Study One describes a performing arts service from provider and customer perspectives, identifies service gaps and develops an elaborated service description incorporating both perspectives. In Study Two, building on the elaborated service description and extant research, in-depth interviews are conducted to gather thick descriptions of predictors of satisfaction, value and service quality as they relate to repurchase intention (RI). Technical, functional and critical factors required to improve organizational performance are identified. Implications for operational strategy, service design and service management theory for this context are discussed. (c) 2005 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Water rights for variable supplies

The relative merits of different systems of property rights to allocate water among different extractive uses are evaluated for the case where variability of supply is important. Three systems of property rights are considered. In the first, variable supply is dealt with through the use of water entitlements defined as shares of the total quantity available. In the second, there are two types of water entitlements, one for water with a high security of supply and the other a lower security right for the residual supply. The third is a system of entitlements specified as state-contingent claims. With zero transaction costs, all systems are efficient. In the realistic situation where transaction costs matter, the system based on state-contingent claims is globally optimal, and the system with high-security and lower security entitlements is preferable to the system with share entitlements.

Development of a web-service-agents-based family wealth management system

The roiling financial markets, constantly changing tax law and increasing complexity of planning transaction increase the demand of aggregated family wealth management (FWM) services. However, current trend of developing such advisory systems is mainly focusing on financial or investment side. In addition, these existing systems lack of flexibility and are hard to be integrated with other organizational information systems, such as CRM systems. In this paper, a novel architecture of Web-service-agents-based FWM systems has been proposed. Multiple intelligent agents are wrapped as Web services and can communicate with each other via Web service protocols. On the one hand, these agents can collaborate with each other and provide comprehensive FWM advices. On the other hand, each service can work independently to achieve its own tasks. A prototype system for supporting financial advice is also presented to demonstrate the advances of the proposed Webservice- agents-based FWM system architecture.

National culture, trust and internet privacy concerns

A major inhibitor to e-commerce stems from the reluctance consumers have to complete transactions because of concern over the use of private information divulged in online transaction processing. Because e-commerce occurs in a global environment, cultural factors are likely to have a significant impact on this concern. Building on work done in the area of culture and privacy, and also trust and privacy, we explore the three way relationship between culture, privacy and trust. Better, more appropriate, and contemporary measures of culture have recently been espoused, and a better understanding and articulation of internet users information privacy concern has been developed. We present the results of an exploratory study that builds on the work of Milberg, Gefen, and Bellman to better understand and test the effect that national culture has on trust and internet privacy.

A web recommendation technique based on probabilistic latent semantic analysis

Web transaction data between Web visitors and Web functionalities usually convey user task-oriented behavior pattern. Mining such type of click-stream data will lead to capture usage pattern information. Nowadays Web usage mining technique has become one of most widely used methods for Web recommendation, which customizes Web content to user-preferred style. Traditional techniques of Web usage mining, such as Web user session or Web page clustering, association rule and frequent navigational path mining can only discover usage pattern explicitly. They, however, cannot reveal the underlying navigational activities and identify the latent relationships that are associated with the patterns among Web users as well as Web pages. In this work, we propose a Web recommendation framework incorporating Web usage mining technique based on Probabilistic Latent Semantic Analysis (PLSA) model. The main advantages of this method are, not only to discover usage-based access pattern, but also to reveal the underlying latent factor as well. With the discovered user access pattern, we then present user more interested content via collaborative recommendation. To validate the effectiveness of proposed approach, we conduct experiments on real world datasets and make comparisons with some existing traditional techniques. The preliminary experimental results demonstrate the usability of the proposed approach.

Towards user profiling for web recommendation

Collaborative recommendation is one of widely used recommendation systems, which recommend items to visitor on a basis of referring other's preference that is similar to current user. User profiling technique upon Web transaction data is able to capture such informative knowledge of user task or interest. With the discovered usage pattern information, it is likely to recommend Web users more preferred content or customize the Web presentation to visitors via collaborative recommendation. In addition, it is helpful to identify the underlying relationships among Web users, items as well as latent tasks during Web mining period. In this paper, we propose a Web recommendation framework based on user profiling technique. In this approach, we employ Probabilistic Latent Semantic Analysis (PLSA) to model the co-occurrence activities and develop a modified k-means clustering algorithm to build user profiles as the representatives of usage patterns. Moreover, the hidden task model is derived by characterizing the meaningful latent factor space. With the discovered user profiles, we then choose the most matched profile, which possesses the closely similar preference to current user and make collaborative recommendation based on the corresponding page weights appeared in the selected user profile. The preliminary experimental results performed on real world data sets show that the proposed approach is capable of making recommendation accurately and efficiently.

Reweaving the Silk Road through outsourcing and offshoring: The need for an externalisation theory

The reweaving and repaving of the modern Silk Road passes through outsourcing and offshoring activities that have a profound impact on both global business psyche and landscape. Firms, in particular, and their global value chain are being shaped and reshaped through a complex concoction of vertical integration and disintegration. The boundary of the firm and the firm/market interface has been of interest to students of organisation and economics for some time. It has provided the context for Internalisation Theory. Within the new economy, the twin trends of globalisation and advancing technologies are giving rise to a hitherto unknown “worldwide market for market transactions? and increased opportunities for international expansion by firms via market-based modes of organisation. We describe these trends and offer an early modeling approach for explaining why some firm’s externalise the marginal transaction in the so-called new economy. The paper further draws attention on the need to articulate an “Externalisation Theory? that adequately accounts for the firm’s offshoring and outsourcing activities, and that parallels as well as complement “Internalisation Theory? for a full explanation of today’s firms behaviour.

Data quality initiatives - striving for continuous improvements

Although managers consider accurate, timely, and relevant information as critical to the quality of their decisions, evidence of large variations in data quality abounds. Over a period of twelve months, the action research project reported herein attempted to investigate and track data quality initiatives undertaken by the participating organisation. The investigation focused on two types of errors: transaction input errors and processing errors. Whenever the action research initiative identified non-trivial errors, the participating organisation introduced actions to correct the errors and prevent similar errors in the future. Data quality metrics were taken quarterly to measure improvements resulting from the activities undertaken during the action research project. The action research project results indicated that for a mission-critical database to ensure and maintain data quality, commitment to continuous data quality improvement is necessary. Also, communication among all stakeholders is required to ensure common understanding of data quality improvement goals. The action research project found that to further substantially improve data quality, structural changes within the organisation and to the information systems are sometimes necessary. The major goal of the action research study is to increase the level of data quality awareness within all organisations and to motivate them to examine the importance of achieving and maintaining high-quality data.

EXISTE DIFERENÇA ENTRE OS RETORNOS DAS EMPRESAS LISTADAS NO IBOVESPA E NOS NÍVEIS DE GOVERNANÇA CORPORATIVA?

Esta pesquisa teve como objetivo verificar se existe diferença entre os retornos das Empresas listadas no IBOVESPA e nos Níveis de Governança Corporativa criados pela BOVESPA em dezembro de 2000, visando diferenciar as empresas que voluntariamente adotassem práticas adicionais de governança corporativa. O principal objetivo desde processo é melhorar a transparência entre o investidor e as empresas, reduzindo assim a assimetria de informação. Para efetuar esta pesquisa primeiramente foi realizada uma revisão bibliográfica sobre a assimetria da informação, teoria dos custos de transação, teoria da agência e um histórico da governança corporativa no mundo e no Brasil. Para verificar se existe diferença entre os retornos das empresas listadas no IBOVESPA e nos níveis diferenciados de governança corporativa utilizou-se o modelo estatístico ANOVA e Teste t em uma amostra composta por todas as empresas listadas no IBOVESPA em 31/03/2011 que tiveram ações negociadas entre 2006 e 2010 que são os últimos cinco anos da implantação dos níveis de governança no Brasil. Como resultado obteve-se que as empresa listadas no Novo Mercado e no Nível 1 possuem maior retorno que as empresas listadas no mercado tradicional.

A INFLUÊNCIA DAS TEORIAS ECONÔMICAS NA DECISÃO DE TERCEIRIZAR O DESPACHO ADUANEIRO NO SETOR DE COMÉRCIO ATACADISTA NA CIDADE DE SÃO PAULO

O objetivo central deste trabalho é verificar a influência das teorias econômicas na decisão das empresas de comércio atacadista em terceirizar o despacho aduaneiro na cidade de São Paulo. Para isso, a história da terceirização é apresentada brevemente, seguida do levantamento e estudos sobre terceirização e fundamentação das teorias econômicas que mostram possíveis influências na decisão das empresas em terceirizar o despacho aduaneiro: a Teoria do Custo das Transações, a Teoria da Agência, a Teoria do Resource-Based View (RBV) e a Teoria das Competências Essenciais. Além de contextualizar o comércio exterior brasileiro, levando em conta sua história e representatividade econômica, foram apresentadas as atividades ligadas ao despacho aduaneiro, que podem levar as empresas a terceirizar este serviço na cidade de São Paulo. Após a explanação sobre o tema, por meio de pesquisa empírica valendo-se de questionário de perguntas fechadas, aplicado a uma amostra não probabilística por conveniência, verificou-se a relação existente entre as teorias mencionadas acima e o quanto elas influenciam o processo das empresas importadoras e exportadoras do comércio atacadista para terceirizarem o despacho aduaneiro, foi usado o teste ANOVA e possíveis complementações como o do Teste de Dunnett T3 e do Teste de Tukey que constataram a diferença de respostas entre os respondentes que terceirizam totalmente, parcialmente ou não terceirizam esta atividade, além da diferença entre estes níveis de terceirização verificou-se que todas as teorias econômicas apresentadas neste trabalho possuem alguma influência sobre a terceirização do despacho aduaneiro.

IDENTIFICAÇÃO DE SURPRESAS MONETÁRIAS E SEUS IMPACTOS SOBRE A ESTRUTURA A TERMO DA TAXA DE JUROS

A reação dos mercados às alterações na taxa básica de juros é relevante para toda a economia. O entendimento da relação entre a política monetária e as taxas de juros é de extrema importância, uma vez que surpresas monetárias, ou seja, os erros de previsão do mercado a respeito das alterações da meta da Taxa Selic, podem afetar as taxas de juros de diferentes maturidades ou vencimentos, impactando diretamente a Administração Financeira. O objetivo deste estudo foi analisar a variação da Estrutura a Termo da Taxa de Juros (ETTJ) quando verificadas surpresas monetárias na ocasião da decisão do Comitê de Política Monetária (Copom) a respeito da meta da Taxa Selic. Para isso, foi desenvolvido um estudo descritivo quantitativo, que considerou as 88 reuniões ordinárias do Copom realizadas no período de janeiro de 2004 a dezembro de 2013. As surpresas monetárias foram identificadas através de duas formas distintas. Na primeira forma foram consideradas as taxas do contrato de DI1 referente ao último negócio realizado no pregão da data da reunião do Copom, e a taxa do primeiro negócio realizado no pregão seguinte. Desta maneira foram identificadas 11 surpresas monetárias. Na segunda forma foram consideradas as taxas médias verificadas nos mesmos contratos e ocasiões citados anteriormente, sendo assim identificadas 10 surpresas monetárias. Já para a análise da relação entre as variações da ETTJ e as surpresas monetárias foram considerados os vencimentos de 2, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18 e 24 meses. Como resultado foi possível observar que as surpresas monetárias e as variações na ETTJ são diretamente proporcionais, movendo-se na mesma direção, para as duas formas distintas de surpresas monetárias identificadas neste estudo. Além disso, foi empregada nas análises a questão da unanimidade na decisão do Copom, com o objetivo testar o seu conteúdo informacional, e observou-se como resultado uma menor variação da ETTJ em ocasiões em que a decisão do Copom foi unânime. Em resumo, entende-se que os resultados encontrados no presente estudo estão em linha aos apresentados por outros autores, sendo possível comprovar a correlação existente entre as variações da ETTJ e as surpresas monetárias, bem como verificar que a magnitude das variações diminui ao longo da ETTJ, fato este que pode ser relacionado à transparência da política monetária nacional e à experiência na vigência do sistema de metas para a inflação.

Introduction

Werner Sombart (1863-1941) was a famous and controversial social scientist in Germany during the early 20th century. Highly influential, his work and reputation have been indelibly tainted by his embrace of National Socialism in the last decade of his life. Although Sombart left an enormous opus spanning disciplinary boundaries, the scholarly assessment of and intellectual reaction to his work inside and outside of Germany is divided, and ambivalent. Best known for his analyses of capitalism - his essay "Why is There No Socialism in the United States?" remains a classic - Sombart consistently responded to the social and political developments that have shaped the 20th century. This collection provides a representative sampling of those portions of Sombart's work that have stood the test of time. The volume opens with a substantial introduction by the editors reviewing Sombart's life and career, the evolution of his major intellectual concerns, his relation to Marx and Weber, and his political affiliation with the Nazis. Their selection of texts emphasizes areas of his economic and cultural thought that remain relevant to intellectual trends in the social sciences, particularly those trends that seek a more broadly based, cross-disciplinary approach to the relationship of culture and economics. Sombart's writings on capitalism are represented by essays on the nature and origin of the market system and the diversity of its actors and motives among the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. Also included is an excerpt from Sombart's controversial volume "The Jews and Modern Capitalism" exploring the widely perceived relation between economic life and Judaism as a religion. In essays on the economics of cultural processes, Sombart's comprehensive and expansive idea of cultural science yields remarkable and prophetic insights into the nature of urbanism, luxury consumption, fashion and the cultural secularization of love. The volume's final section consists of Sombart's reflections on the social influences of technology, the economic life of the future, and on socialism, including the influential essay "Why is There No Socialism in the United States?". Encapsulating the most valuable aspects of his work, this study provides clear demonstration of Sombart's sense for fine cultural distinctions and broad cultural developments and the predictive power of his analyses. It should be of interest to sociologists, economists, political scientists and specialists in cultural studies.