Business Commons^™

An Overview Of The Near-Death Experience Phenomenon, David San Filippo Ph.D.

David San Filippo Ph.D.

Near-death experiences appear to be universal phenomena that have been reported for centuries. A near-death encounter is defined as an event in which the individual could very easily die or be killed, or may have already been considered clinically dead, but nonetheless survives, and continue his or her physical life. Reports of near-death experiences date back to the Ice Age. There are cave paintings, in France and Spain that depict possible after life scenes that are similar to reported scenes related to near-death experiences. Plato's Republic presents the story of a near-death experience of a Greek soldier named Er. In …

Nonmarket Performance: Evidence From U.S. Electric Utilities, Jean-Philippe Bonardi, Guy Holburn, Rick Vanden Bergh

Jean-Philippe Bonardi

No abstract provided.

Simulation Of The Colombian Firm Energy Market, Peter Cramton, Steven Stoft

Peter Cramton

We present a simulation analysis of the proposed Colombian firm energy market. The main purpose of the simulation is to assess the risk to suppliers of participation in the market. We also are able to consider variations in the market design, and assess the impact of alternative auction parameters. Three simulation models are developed and analyzed. The first model (Model 1) uses historical price data from October 1995 through May 2006 to assess the performance risk of hypothetical thermal and hydro generating units. The second model (Model 2) uses historical price and operating data to assess performance risk of the …

Expert Advice, Control, And Heterogeneous Beliefs, Leonidas E. De La Rosa

Leonidas Enrique de la Rosa

In this paper, I study the effects of overconfidence in an investment-decision setting. A risk-averse agent privately observes information relevant to an investment decision, which he can then report to a principal. In a standard common-priors setting, the optimal contract provides full insurance to the agent: the principal pays a fixed wage to the agent, asks him to reveal his information, and implements the efficient investment rule. When the agent overestimates the expected revenue of the project following investment, however, he is willing to "wager" on success against the (relatively pessimistic) principal, and hence bear some project risk in equilibrium. …

Public Healthcare: Changes Introduced When Implementing E-Procurement, Tommaso Federici

Federici Tommaso

The large and growing size of the healthcare public spending for goods and services worries the institutions of many European countries, including Italy, and asks for rationalization initiatives. In parallel, e-procurement solutions spread into Public Administrations (PA's) and introduce innovative processes, primarily in the purchasing phase.

In this scenario, e-procurement has the potential to enable significant efficiency improvements in the public healthcare sector, with the reduction of purchasing and administrative costs. However, most e-procurement initiatives met difficulties and did not fully delivered the expected benefits so far. This is mainly due to the healthcare procurement complexity, specific characteristics and peculiar …

Adding Ecological Considerations To Environmental Accounting, David A. Bainbridge

David A Bainbridge

Environmental accounting has often neglected ecological costs. These are essential to complete a true cost accounting. Ecological costs are often very large and long term and if they are ignored the costs/benefits of projects are incorrectly calculated.

Smes And Corporate Social Responsibility. Some Evidences From An Empirical Research, Mara Del Baldo

mara del baldo

No abstract provided.

666, The Antichrist And Satan, David Randall Jenkins

David Randall Jenkins

The Efficient Recalcitrance Assumption plagues [(Star of David Set), (N: N+1)] transition, begetting scripture's "666," "Antichrist" and "Satan" metaphorical references.

New England’S Forward Capacity Auction, Peter Cramton

Peter Cramton

This note provides a brief description of New England’s Forward Capacity Auction (FCA) for the procurement of electricity capacity. The description is based on the 6 March 2006 Settlement Agreement. The description here presents a simpler description of the auction mechanics, and limits the presentation to the key elements relevant to someone providing software and other support to implement the primary auction. In addition, some motivation for the approach is given. The description here is not a software specification, but rather a high-level description of the auction. Many implementation details are yet to be resolved. These details will be resolved …

The Convergence Of Market Designs For Adequate Generating Capacity, Peter Cramton, Steven Stoft

Peter Cramton

This paper compares market designs intended to solve the resource adequacy (RA) problem, and finds that, in spite of rivalrous claims, the most advanced designs have nearly converged. The original dichotomy between approaches based on long-term energy contracts and those based on short-term capacity markets spawned two design tracks. Long-term contracts led to call-option obligations which provide market-power control and the ability to strengthen performance incentives, but this approach fails to replace the missing money at the root of the adequacy problem. Hogan’s energy-only market fills this gap. On the other track, the short-term capacity markets (ICAP) spawned long-term capacity …

Globalization & Nationalism: A Recipe For Terror, Cari Bourette, Daniel Reader

Cari Bourette

Nationalism appears to be part of the human condition; it may well be related to the human tendency toward tribalism. Whatever the case, nationalism appears to be a permanent feature on the global landscape. Globalization, while not a new phenomenon by any means, seems to be having a tremendous dilutory effect on the sovereignty of states; it now appears to be carrying the assault to the cultural frontiers of nationalism. Unlike the Westphalian constructs, however, nations will not so easily succumb. There is a greater inherent resistance to change in nations; the only historically effective method has been outright eradication …

Affidavit Of Peter Cramton, Peter Cramton

Peter Cramton

Affidavit in support of the settlement agreement defining the New England Forward Capacity Market. For ISO New England.

High-Performance Communication: Writing For Results In The Business Workplace [1], Douglas J. Swanson Ed.D Apr

Douglas J. Swanson, Ed.D APR

High-Performance Communication: Writing for Results in the Business Workplace (workshop)

Maine State Government's Worksite Wellness Program, William C. Mcpeck

William C. McPeck

This is an unpublished report I wrote for Maine Governor John Baldacci to share with the National Governor's Association. The report reflects the history and current initiatives of Maine State Government's employee wellness program.

The "Duty" To Be A Rational Shareholder, David A. Hoffman

David A Hoffman

How and when do courts determine that corporate disclosures are actionable under the federal securities laws? The applicable standard is materiality: would a (mythical) reasonable investor have considered a given disclosure important. As I establish through empirical and statistical testing of approximately 500 cases analyzing the materiality standard, judicial findings of immateriality are remarkably common, and have been stable over time. Materiality's scope results in the dismissal of a large number of claims, and creates a set of cases in which courts attempt to explain and defend their vision of who is, and is not, a reasonable investor. Thus, materiality …

Declaration Of Peter Cramton On The Aws Auction, Peter Cramton

Peter Cramton

Declaration on various auction rules for the AWS auction. On behalf of T-Mobile US.

Reply Declaration Of Peter Cramton On The Aws Auction, Peter Cramton

Peter Cramton

Reply declaration on various auction rules for the AWS auction. On behalf of T-Mobile US.

Strategies For Ip And Technology Standards, Ron D. Katznelson

Ron D. Katznelson

No abstract provided.

Acorn Use As Food, David A. Bainbridge

David A Bainbridge

The acorns from oaks (Quercus) and tan oaks (Lithocarpus) have been used as food for many thousands of years. They occur in the archaeological record of the early town sites in the Zagros Mountains, at Catal Hüyük (6000 BC), and oak trees were carefully inventoried by the Assyrians during the reign of Sargon II. In Europe, Asia, North Africa, the Mid-East, and North America, acorns were once a staple food. They are still a commercial food crop in several countries. Acorns are still harvested and used in several areas of the United States, most notably Southern Arizona and California. There …

The Work-Family Interface And Job Performance: Moderating Effects Of Conscientiousness And Perceived Organizational Support

L. A. Witt

No abstract provided.

Interaction Of Social Skill And Organizational Support On Job Performance

L. A. Witt

No abstract provided.

Managing The Value Of Ecclesiastic And Religious Heritage. The Experience Of Some Italian Dioceses, Mara Del Baldo

mara del baldo

No abstract provided.

Harnessing Growth Spillovers For Rural Development: The Effects Of Regional Spatial Structure, Edward Feser, Andrew Isserman

Edward J Feser

Many rural development strategies seek to leverage urban to-rural growth spillovers. This paper concludes that their success depends on the spatial structure surrounding the target rural counties. We develop a county-level spatial growth model to identify the positive spread and negative backwash effects of urban to rural spillovers in the lower 48 states over the 1990-2000 period. Instead of the conventional, fallacious substitution of metropolitan and nonmetropolitan for urban and rural, we consider the urban and rural character of each county. Mostcounties have both urban and rural populations, and we classify each as urban, mixed urban, or rural depending on …

Introduction To Combinatorial Auctions, Peter Cramton, Yoav Shoham, Richard Steinberg

Peter Cramton

Combinatorial auctions are those auctions in which bidders can place bids on combinations of items, called “packages,” rather than just individual items. The study of combinatorial auctions is inherently interdisciplinary. Combinatorial auctions are in the first place auctions, a topic extensively studied by economists. Package bidding brings in operations research, especially techniques from combinatorial optimization and mathematical programming. Similarly, computer science is concerned with expressiveness of various bidding languages, and algorithmic aspects of the combinatorial problem. The study of combinatorial auctions thus lies at the intersection of economics, operations research, and computer science. In this book, we look at combinatorial …

The Clock-Proxy Auction: A Practical Combinatorial Auction Design, Lawrence M. Ausubel, Peter Cramton, Paul Milgrom

Peter Cramton

We propose the clock-proxy auction as a practical means for auctioning many related items. A clock auction phase is followed by a last-and-final proxy round. The approach combines the simple and transparent price discovery of the clock auction with the efficiency of the proxy auction. Linear pricing is maintained as long as possible, but then is abandoned in the proxy round to improve efficiency and enhance seller revenues. The approach has many advantages over the simultaneous ascending auction. In particular, the clock-proxy auction has no exposure problem, eliminates incentives for demand reduction, and prevents most collusive bidding strategies.

Combinatorial Auctions, Peter Cramton, Yoav Shoham, Richard Steinberg

Peter Cramton

A comprehensive book on combinatorial auctions―auctions in which bidders can bid on packages of items. The book consists of original material intended for researchers, students, and practitioners of auction design. It includes a foreword by Vernon Smith, an introduction to combinatorial auctions, and twenty-three cross-referenced chapters in five parts. Part I covers mechanisms, such as the Vickrey auction and the ascending proxy auction. Part II is on bidding and efficiency issues. Part III examines computational issues and algorithmic considerations, especially the winner determination problem―how to identify the (tentative) winning set of bids that maximizes revenue. Part IV discusses implementation and …

Dynamic Auctions In Procurement, Peter Cramton, Lawrence M. Ausubel

Peter Cramton

We study the theory and practical implementation of dynamic procurement auctions. We consider the procurement of many related items. With many related items, price discovery is important not only to reduce the winner’s curse, but more importantly, to simplify the bidder’s decision problem and to facilitate the revelation of preferences in the bids. Three auction formats are considered: simultaneous descending auctions are preferred if the items are not divisible, simultaneous clock auctions are desirable for procuring many divisible goods, and the clock-proxy auction is best if complementarities among items are strong and varied across the suppliers. We examine the properties …

Simultaneous Ascending Auctions, Peter Cramton, Yoav Shoham, Richard Steinberg

Peter Cramton

The simultaneous ascending auction has proved to be a successful method of auctioning many related items. Simultaneous sale and ascending bids enable price discovery, which helps bidders build desirable packages of items. Although package bids are not allowed, the auction format does handle mild complementarities well. I examine the auction design and its performance in practice.

The Management Science As A Practical Field: In Support Of Action Research, Dariusz Jemielniak

Dariusz Jemielniak

The paper considers the implications of treating management as academic field, its consequent losing direct link to the practice in spite of the dire need for knowing-how orientation in business education, and the potential of action learning to fill this gap. Management since its inception has been, as all young disciplines, related to practice, originally being even perceived as an engineering subdivision (Boje and Winsor, 1993; Shenhav, 1999). Recently, there has been a growing concern that bringing new ideas to business world and solving its real life problems is a promise Academia makes, but cannot fulfill (Czarniawska, 1994). Also, relations …

When Does Culture Matter In Marketing, Donnel A. Briley, Jennifer L. Aaker

Donnel A Briley

No abstract provided.