The role of financial and accounting methods as estimators of intrinsic value: the Tubacex case

En aquest treball estudiem si el valor intrínsec de Tubacex entre 1994-2013 coincideix amb la seva tendència bursàtil a llarg termini, tenint en compte part de la teoria defensada per Shiller. També verifiquem la possible infravaloració de l’acció de Tubacex a 31/12/13. A la primera part expliquem els principals mètodes de valoració d’empreses y a la segona part fem una anàlisi del sector en el que opera Tubacex (acer inoxidable) i calculem el valor de l’acció de Tubacex per mitjà de tres mètodes de valoració (Free Cash Flow, Cash Flow i Valor en Llibres). Apliquem aquests tres mètodes de valoració per verificar si com a mínim algun d’ells coincideix amb la tendència bursàtil a llarg termini.

Usability of Virtual Museums and the Diffusion of Cultural Heritage

Les prioritats per als museus canvien. La missió de la nova museologia és convertir els museus en llocs per a gaudir i aprendre, cosa que fa que hagin de dur a terme una gestió financera molt semblant a la d'una empresa social que competeixi en el sector del lleure. Amb el pas del temps, els museus han d'establir i aplicar els criteris necessaris per a la supervivència, aplanant el terreny perquè altres institucions públiques siguin més obertes en els seus esforços per comunicar i difondre el seu patrimoni. Ja podem començar a parlar d'algunes conclusions comunament acceptades sobre el comportament dels visitants, que són necessàries per a planificar exposicions futures que vegin l'aprenentatge com un procés constructiu, les col·leccions com a objectes amb significat i les mateixes exposicions com a mitjans de comunicació que haurien de transformar la manera de pensar de l'espectador i que estan al servei del mateix missatge. Sembla que internet representa un mitjà efectiu per a assolir aquests objectius, ja que és capaç (a) d'adaptar-se als interessos i les característiques intel·lectuals d'un públic divers; (b) de redescobrir els significats dels objectes i adquirir un reconeixement sociocultural del seu valor per mitjà del seu potencial interactiu, i (c) de fer ús d'elements atractius i estimulants perquè tothom en gaudeixi. Per a aquest propòsit, és bàsic fer-nos les preguntes següents: quins criteris ha de seguir un museu virtual per a optimar la difusió del seu patrimoni?; quins elements estimulen els usuaris a quedar-se en una pàgina web i fer visites virtuals que els siguin satisfactòries?; quin paper té la usabilitat de l'aplicació en tot això?

Value added logistical support service. Part 1 : Trends and new concept model

The aim of `Valssi' study was to find out the service requirements in `business-to-business' (B2B) markets and to present a new logistics service concept, where the traditional logistics service is expanded with significant manufacturing and value addedfacilities. The traditional third-party logistics service providers are not necessarily able to offer services, which cover widely the needs of potential customers. The study has been outlined to spare part markets in metal industry. In the second phase of the Valssi-project the aim is to examine the economical conditions and potentiality of the new logistics business concept. This research report (Part 1) concentrates on examining current trends in global and domestic logistics markets. Based on detailed survey among the participating companies, the study presents basis for a new logistics business concept model. The developed concept consists of 12 different service modules, which are split into deeper details of processes. The integration of worldwide supplier and service provider network together with customer companies systems is a challenge. The report focuses on evaluating the requirements for the new business concept from the customer-companies point of view. The study paints an overall picture of distribution and service provider network including an abstract about the software and system integration possibilities. As a result of the survey, it can be concluded that thereis need for the new business concept among the participating companies, and a modular service concept meets the requirements of them, because the new sophisticated concept considers the specialities involved in spare part logistics in metal industry.

Value added logistical support service: logistics cost structure and performance in the new concept. Part 3

The aim of this study is to present an Activity-Based Costing spreadsheet tool for analyzing the logistics costs. The tool can be used both by customer-companies and logistics service providers. The study discusses the influence of different activity models on costs. Additionally this paper discusses about the logistical performance across the total supply chain This study is carried out using ananalytical research approach and literature material has been used for supplementing the concerned research approach. Cost structure analysis was based on the theory of activity-based management. This study was outlined to spare part logistics in machine-shop industry. The outlines of logistics services and logisticalperformance discussed in this report are based on the new logistics business concept (LMS-concept), which has been presented earlier in the Valssi-project. Oneof the aims of this study is to increase awareness of different activity modelson logistics costs. The report paints an overall picture about the business environment and requirements for the new logistics concept.

Value added logistics in supply and demand chain. Smile. Part 2. eBusiness in a service business. Case: A maintenance and operations network in forest industry

VVALOSADE is a research project of professor Anita Lukka's VALORE research team in the Lappeenranta University of Technology. The VALOSADE includes the ELO technology program of Tekes. SMILE is one of four subprojects of the VALOSADE. The SMILE study focuses on the case of the company network that is composed of small and micro-sized mechanical maintenance service providers and forest industry as large-scale customers. The basic principle of the SMILE study is the communication and ebusiness in supply and demand networks. The aim of the study is to develop ebusiness strategy, ebusiness model and e-processes among the SME local service providers, and onthe other hand, between the local service provider network and the forest industry customers in a maintenance and operations service business. A literature review, interviews and benchmarking are used as research methods in this qualitative case study. The first SMILE report, 'Ebusiness between Global Company and Its Local SME Supplier Network', concentrated on creating background for the SMILE study by studying general trends of ebusiness in supply chains and networks of different industries. This second phase of the study concentrates on case network background, such as business relationships, information systems and business objectives; core processes in maintenance and operations service network; development needs in communication among the network participants; and ICT solutions to respond needs in changing environment. In the theory part of the report, different ebusiness models and frameworks are introduced. Those models and frameworks are compared to empirical case data. From that analysis of the empirical data, therecommendations for the development of the network information system are derived. In process industry such as the forest industry, it is crucial to achieve a high level of operational efficiency and reliability, which sets up great requirements for maintenance and operations. Therefore, partnerships or strategic alliances are needed between the network participants. In partnerships and alliances, deep communication is important, and therefore the information systems in the network also are critical. Communication, coordination and collaboration will increase in the case network in the future, because network resources must be optimised to improve competitive capability of the forest industry customers and theefficiency of their service providers. At present, ebusiness systems are not usual in this maintenance network. A network information system among the forest industry customers and their local service providers actually is the only genuinenetwork information system in this total network. However, the utilisation of that system has been quite insignificant. The current system does not add value enough either to the customers or to the local service providers. At present, thenetwork information system is the infomediary that share static information forthe network partners. The network information system should be the transaction intermediary, which integrates internal processes of the network companies; the network information system, which provides common standardised processes for thelocal service providers; and the infomediary, which share static and dynamic information on right time, on right partner, on right costs, on right format and on right quality. This study provides recommendations how to develop this system in the future to add value to the network companies. Ebusiness scenarios, vision, objectives, strategies, application architecture, ebusiness model, core processes and development strategy must be considered when the network information system will be developed in the next development step. The core processes in the case network are demand/capacity management, customer/supplier relationship management, service delivery management, knowledge management and cash flow management. Most benefits from ebusiness solutions come from the electrifying of operational level processes, such as service delivery management and cash flow management.

Els diccionaris de pronúncia del català: passat, present i futur

La llengua catalana disposa d’informació fonètica detallada multidialectal d’ençà que el Diccionari català-valencià-balear d’Alcover & Moll (1926/1930-1962/1968) fou enllestit quatre dècades enrere. Més endavant aparegué el primer diccionari de pronunciació del català (Bruguera, 1990, 20042), restringit al català central i amb una sola pronúncia per entrada -per tant, sense variants i amb informació reduïda en relació amb noms propis, manlleus i neologismes. Més endavant es publicà un vocabulari d’unes 2.000 paraules (Paloma & Rico, 2000) en els dos estàndards orals de Catalunya: central i nord-occidental, de caràcter normatiu i en transcripció ampla, suficient per als parlants catalans. Poc després veié la llum un diccionari de pronúncia de la varietat valenciana (Lacreu, ed., 2001), que conté un nombre elevat d’entrades, però sense informació onomàstica, morfològica ni relativa a la variació de la pronúncia d’aquest parlar. Finalment, es presenta un diccionari en procés d’elaboració d’unes 70.000 entrades i de més de 200.000 pronúncies. El Diccionari de pronúncia catalana (DPC) ha estat concebut per Julià-Muné & Creus com un diccionari de pronúncia descriptiva, en principi de les varietats nord-ocidental i central de la llengua catalana, que ofereix a més la pronunciació estàndard recomanada.

Content value chains modelling using a copyright ontology

Existing digital rights management (DRM) systems, initiatives like Creative Commons or research works as some digital rights ontologies provide limited support for content value chains modelling and management. This is becoming a critical issue as content markets start to profit from the possibilities of digital networks and the World Wide Web. The objective is to support the whole copyrighted content value chain across enterprise or business niches boundaries. Our proposal provides a framework that accommodates copyright law and a rich creation model in order to cope with all the creation life cycle stages. The dynamic aspects of value chains are modelled using a hybrid approach that combines ontology-based and rule-based mechanisms. The ontology implementation is based on Web Ontology Language and Description Logic (OWL-DL) reasoners, are directly used for license checking. On the other hand, for more complex aspects of the dynamics of content value chains, rule languages are the choice.

Nitrogen replacement value of alfalfa to corn and wheat under irrigated Mediterranean conditions

In crop rotations that include alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), agronomic and environmental concerns mean that it is important to determine the N fertilizer contribution of this legume for subsequent crops in order to help to increase the sustainability of cropping systems. To determine the N fertilizer replacement value (FRV) of a 2-yr alfalfa crop on subsequent crops of corn (Zea mays L.) followed by wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) under irrigated Mediterranean conditions, two 4-yr rotations (alfalfa-corn-wheat and corn-corn-corn-wheat) were conducted from 2001 to 2004 in a Typic Xerofluvent soil. Corn yields were compared after two years of alfalfa and a third year of corn under monoculture and wheat yields were also compared after both rotations. Corn production after alfalfa outyielded monoculture corn at all four rates of N fertilizer application analyzed (0, 100, 200 and 300 kg N/ha). The FRV of 2-yr alfalfa for corn was about 160 kg N/ha. Wheat grown after the alfalfa-corn rotation outyielded that grown after corn under monoculture at both the rates of N studied (0 and 100 kg N/ha). The FRV of alfalfa for wheat following alfalfa-corn was about 76 kg N/ha. Soil NO3 -N content after alfalfa was greater than with the corn monoculture at all rates of N fertilizer application and this higher value persisted during the second crop after alfalfa. This was probably one of the reasons for the better yields associated with the alfalfa rotation. These results make a valuable contribution to irrigated agriculture under mediterranean conditions, show reasons for interest in rotating alfalfa with corn, and explain how it is possible to make savings when applying N fertilizer.

Extreme-value distributions and renormalization group

In the classical theorems of extreme value theory the limits of suitably rescaled maxima of sequences of independent, identically distributed random variables are studied. The vast majority of the literature on the subject deals with affine normalization. We argue that more general normalizations are natural from a mathematical and physical point of view and work them out. The problem is approached using the language of renormalization-group transformations in the space of probability densities. The limit distributions are fixed points of the transformation and the study of its differential around them allows a local analysis of the domains of attraction and the computation of finite-size corrections.

Optimal capital structure: a trade-off model and its empirical testing

In the present research we have set forth a new, simple, Trade-Off model that would allow us to calculate how much debt and, by default, how much equity a company should have, using easily available information and calculating the cost of debt dynamically on the basis of the effect that the capital structure of the company has on the risk of bankruptcy; in an attempt to answer this question. The proposed model has been applied to the companies that make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) in 2007. We have used consolidated financial data from 1996 to 2006, published by Bloomberg. We have used simplex optimization method to find the debt level that maximizes firm value. Then, we compare the estimated debt with real debt of companies using statistical nonparametric Mann-Whitney. The results indicate that 63% of companies do not show a statistically significant difference between the real and the estimated debt.

L'aprofitament ramader a la vall del Madriu-Perafita-Claror (Principat d'Andorra)

The farming exploitation in the Madriu-Perafita-Claror Valley (Principality of Andorra). The Madriu-Perafita-Claror Valley, a natural space located in the Principality of Andorra, has kept a high ecological and landscape value through time. At present, the Valley is considered in the cultural landscape category of the UNESCO World-wide Heritage. A study of the spatial variability of pastures in the Valley conducted from 1994 to 2003 concluded that there was an optimistic future for livestock. This future was mainly explained by new policies in the country, as well as by the new hopes of the tockbreeders. The study also stated that cattle and horse movements within the Valley did not varied over the study period, although entrance and exit points changed. Sheep only fed in the Madriu-Perafita-Claror Valley, but it wouldbe convenient its introduction in other areas where horses and cattle did not pasture. The study concluded that the use of the Valley by the stockbreeders contributed to the development of the vegetation and the landscape, and that the livestock is very important to keep natural and landscape values of the Valley.

Re-writing and Its Pedagogical Value: A Case Study

Tenint en compte el temps i la energia que els mestres i professors dediquen a la correcció de redaccions i produccions escrites i el poc efecte que aquestes semblen tenir en altres produccions dels aprenents, es va dissenyar la recerca que es presenta en aquest article. Els resultats de l'estudi semblen suggerir que les correccions no faciliten l'aprenentatge. Com presentem aquesta activitat de retroalimentació a l'alumnat i la posició que li donem dins d'un enfocament basat en el procés de l'escriptura seran clau per fer que les correccions siguin facilitadores de l'aprenentatge de la producció escrita.

La planificació estratègica i la gestió de projectes. Una línia de canvi de present i de futur a la Secretaria de Política Lingüística

L’article situa el procés de planificació estratègica que ha iniciat la Secretaria de Política Lingüística en el context dels reptes que afronta la gestió pública en un moment de transformació social i tecnològica. En aquest àmbit destaca la importància del treball planificat, desgrana el mètode que guiarà el procés i exposa la importància de la formació. Unes conclusions orientatives tanquen la reflexió.

Responsabilitat social de l’empresa i política lingüística. Una interessant eina de sensibilització de present i de futur

L'article explora les connexions entre la responsabilitat social corporativa (RSE) i la política lingüística. S'obre amb una introducció a la responsabililtat social corporativa; a continuació, s'aborda la compatibilitat entre aquest concepte i el de política lingüística de manera genèrica i en l'àmbit específic d'una empresa. Finalment es tracta la tasca en matèria de RSE impulsada per la Secretaria de Política Lingüística. L'article es tanca amb unes reflexions finals.