摘要:

AbstractMany organizations are now realizing that information technology (IT) is making a significant contribution to their operations, and could be even more influential. A corollary of this is that they need an IT strategy. It can be argued that OR groups can make a more significant contribution than they have hitherto made to strategy, because of their knowledge of IT, their skills and their position in the organization. This paper takes a different view. It explores the claim that OR groups do have special competence in this area, and examines their previous contributions to strategy formulation. The conclusion is that other areas of IT development offer a greater chance of success than do attempts of OR groups to press for a major role in the development of IT strategy.

ISSN:0160-5682    

DOI:10.1057/jors.1989.31

出版商:Taylor&Francis    

年代:1989

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

AbstractSimulation of air-defence engagements between ground forces and aircraft or helicopters requires complex models to examine the many-on-many interactions. One of the critical factors determining the outcome of a low-altitude engagement is the terrain over which it is fought. The terrain determines the aircraft's flight path as well as the firing opportunities for the ground forces. Methods of terrain representation that work well for aircraft engagements may not be suitable for helicopters. The different flight characteristics of helicopters cause them to interact more closely with microterrain features and so modify their flight paths. Representation of microterrain features on the terrain database leads to significantly different exposure statistics compared with those obtained when such features are absent. A bias is also present in battle-simulation results, leading to the conclusion that microterrain must be included to obtain realistic battle-model outputs when studying air defence against helicopters.

ISSN:0160-5682    

DOI:10.1057/jors.1989.32

出版商:Taylor&Francis    

年代:1989

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

AbstractThis paper presents the use of optimization as a tool for policy analysis and design in system dynamics models, and presents a demonstration of its use on the‘project model’developed by G. P. Richardson and A. L. Pugh III in their bookIntroduction to System Dynamics Modelling with DYNAMO. The use of optimization to design parameters, table functions and new model structure is shown to produce a very significantly improved performance for this model compared to conventional approaches.

ISSN:0160-5682    

DOI:10.1057/jors.1989.33

出版商:Taylor&Francis    

年代:1989

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

AbstractThe effect of current harvesting on future fish stocks is best captured with a multicohort model. In principle, numerical dynamic programming can be used to determine optimal harvesting for any level of fish stocks. In practice, applications to long-lived species of fish have been limited because of the need to have a state variable for each cohort. The problem is further increased if vessel capacity is included as a state variable. Ignoring excess vessel capacity in a fishery with depleted stocks is likely to lead to recommendations for overly drastic reductions in catch. A method is proposed for finding approximately optimal harvesting policies for a multicohort fishery, taking account of changing harvesting capacity. The method is illustrated for the southern bluefin tuna fishery.

ISSN:0160-5682    

DOI:10.1057/jors.1989.34

出版商:Taylor&Francis    

年代:1989

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

AbstractPerturbation analysis is a technique that expedites the process of performing experiments on discrete-event simulation models. This makes it possible to derive sensitivity estimates from one computer execution of a simulation model. Infinitesimal perturbation analysis (IPA) is one class of algorithms used in perturbation analysis. In this paper, the techniques and algorithms used in simulation to perform infinitesimal perturbation analysis are examined. Each algorithm is discussed in detail, with comments concerning implementation problems and examples with experimental results for serial transfer lines. The results of this paper show that for simple systems, IPA can be easily implemented in a general-purpose simulation language such as SIMAN. Unfortunately, for any given system, parameter or performance measure, the algorithm used to generate the gradient may vary. Additionally, algorithms for more complex classes of problems do not yet exist. This problem hampers the current possibility of incorporating IPA into general-purpose simulation languages.

ISSN:0160-5682    

DOI:10.1057/jors.1989.35

出版商:Taylor&Francis    

年代:1989

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

AbstractThe purpose of this paper is to analyse how the supplier can formulate the terms of a quantity-discount pricing schedule, assuming that the buyer always behaves optimally. Formulas are derived for price and order size which maximize (1) the economic gain of the supplier resultant from revising price and order size, (2) the gain of the buyer, and (3) the sum of the gains of both parties. It is suggested how the supplier can induce the buyer to a predetermined price and order-size level of mutual benefit by utilizing an all-unit and incremental quantity-discount system.

ISSN:0160-5682    

DOI:10.1057/jors.1989.36

出版商:Taylor&Francis    

年代:1989

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

AbstractA strategic planning approach is used to compute the value of sample information in a project-selection problem for a risk-neutral decision-maker. Under this setting, a three-stage procedure is developed, and the decisions of purchasing information and selecting projects are derived for different cases. An exact solution is computed for the case with no budget constraints. Formulations, exact procedures and heuristics are suggested for other cases. In addition, upper bounds are derived for the amount of money that the decision-maker will be willing to pay in each case.

ISSN:0160-5682    

DOI:10.1057/jors.1989.37

出版商:Taylor&Francis    

年代:1989

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

AbstractIn most of the multiattribute utility models it is assumed that the analytical forms of partial and overall utility functions are known, and hence the problem becomes one of estimating the values of model parameters. This assumption is rather restrictive since one may not possess prior knowledge as to the analytical forms of such functions. The present paper is an attempt to eliminate some of the shortcomings of the existing models by proposing two new formulations of the multiattribute choice problem without a priori limitation to any strict form of partial utility function.

ISSN:0160-5682    

DOI:10.1057/jors.1989.38

出版商:Taylor&Francis    

年代:1989

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

AbstractIn this paper, a heuristic procedure utilizing the adjacent pairwise interchange (API) methodology to minimize mean tardiness () in single-machine scheduling is presented. Results indicate that it provides a much better solution than does the Wilkerson-Irwin heuristic algorithm, which also tries to minimize. Experimental results suggest that the heuristic solution is not affected by problem size, which is important if larger problems are to be solved. Also, the heuristic is not affected by the tightness of due dates.

ISSN:0160-5682    

DOI:10.1057/jors.1989.39

出版商:Taylor&Francis    

年代:1989

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

AbstractIn a recent paper we presented a test, based on pairwise preference information, to identify to which class of functions (linear, quasi-concave, or neither) a decision-maker's (implicit) value function belongs. In this note we investigate the power of the test. Some improvements to the test are also suggested.

ISSN:0160-5682    

DOI:10.1057/jors.1989.40

出版商:Taylor&Francis    

年代:1989

数据来源: Taylor