The analysis of economic phenomena at the wholistic (aggregative) level 11l8intains a long tradition that assumes the neoclassical production function Q-f(K,L) (i.e., output as a function of capital and labor) satisfies the condition of constant returns to scale.The assumed absence of any (dis-)economies of scale renders the production function useless, when the scale effect is as pronounced as is typically found at the less aggregative levels of individual firm or industry analvsis.. .The purpose of this paper is to deduce new classes of production functions that are not limited to the constant returns to scale characteristic.Hore specifically, the scale effect is described by an arbitrary function of one of the factors of production, capital in this paper.This class of production functions exhibi-ts scale sensitivity with respect to capital (SSWK).The paper shows how different fmidlies of production functions can be derived from two basic .. building blocks," a :wage share function and a scale functitm.The Cobb-])ouglas, CES and VES production fmu:tions are special cases.~e Cobb-Douglas and CES functions can be expanded to incorporate non-constant returns to scale.A smnple of firms from Taiwan is used to test among various derived functional specifications.An interesting diversity of preferred specifications was found among three industries.

Organizations, like sponges, must have the capacity to absorb inputs in order to generate outputs. Researchers have developed theories of organizational absorptive capacity; researchers have also developed models of the effective generation of new products. The challenge lies in integrating the two research streams.

Abstract Knowledge is too problematic a concept to make the task of building a dynamic knowledge‐based theory of the firm easy. We must also distinguish the theory from the resource‐based and evolutionary views. The paper begins with a multitype epistemology which admits both the pre‐ and subconscious modes of human knowing and, reframing the concept of the cognizing individual, the collective knowledge of social groups. While both Nelson and Winter, and Nonaka and Takeuchi, successfully sketch theories of the dynamic interactions of these types of organizational knowledge, neither indicates how they are to be contained. Callon and Latour suggest knowledge itself is dynamic and contained within actor networks, so moving us from knowledge as a resource toward knowledge as a process. To simplify this approach, we revisit sociotechnical systems theory, adopt three heuristics from the social constructionist literature, and make a distinction between the systemic and component attributes of the actor network. The result is a very different mode of theorizing, less an objective statement about the nature of firms ‘out there’ than a tool to help managers discover their place in the firm as a dynamic knowledge‐based activity system.

This paper develops a new model for studying multiechelon inventory systems with stochastic demand. For the model we assume that each site in the system orders at preset times according to an order-up-to policy, that delivery times are deterministic, and that the demand processes are stochastic with independent increments. We introduce a new scheme for allocating stock in short supply, which we call virtual allocation and which permits significant tractability. We exercise the model on a set of test problems for two-echelon systems to get insight into the structure of good policies. The primary findings are that both the central warehouse (upper echelon) and the retail sites (lower echelon) should hold safety stock, but that most of the safety stock should be at the retail sites. Consequently, the central warehouse will stock out with high probability. Furthermore, we show that the virtual allocation rule is near optimal for the set of test problems.

The Pure Expectations Hypothesis (PEH) serves as the benchmark model for the relationship between yields on bonds of different maturities. When coupled with rational expectations, however, empirical renderings of the model fail miserably. I explore the possibility that failure to account for changes in monetary policy regime explains much of the failure of the PEH. Estimating changing monetary regimes in conjunction with the PEH significantly improves its performance. The predicted spread between the long and short rates is highly correlated with the actual spread. The standard deviation of the theoretical spread is nearly identical to that of the actual spread.

Top management teams make strategic decisions, and the products of their decision making influence organizational performance. However, a subtle paradox is embedded in this relationship. This study focuses on conflict as the crux of this paradox and provides evidence from two different samples of conflict's consistent yet contradictory effects on decision quality, consensus, and affective acceptance.