This dissertation addresses the crucial problem of how environmental policy uncertainty influences investments in energy technological change. The rising level of carbon emissions due to increasing global energy consumption calls for policy shift. In order to stem the negative consequences on...

This paper examines the underlying logic behind the rules configured in a RFID middleware to support “smart business processes” in one retail supply chain. Through a detailed investigation of the underlying business processes, we will demonstrate how businesses rules can be defined,...

This dissertation aims to achieve two goals. The first is to model the strategic interactions of firms that own cascaded reservoir-hydro plants in oligopolistic and mixed oligopolistic hydrothermal electricity generation markets. Although competition in thermal generation has been extensively...

Energy plays a vital role in the world today, driving industry and allowing for technologies ingrained throughout the routines of daily life. The complex interactions, evolution, long time scales of change, and critical nature of the energy system makes modeling and analysis crucial to...

Electricity utilities in the Southern African region are conscious that gains could be made from more economically efficient trading but have had no tools with which to analyze the effects of a change in policy. This research is the first to provide transparent quantitative techniques to...

In today's global economy, firms are seeking any and every opportunity to differentiate from competitors by reducing supply chain costs and adding value to end customers. One increasingly popular option, under growing consumer awareness and increasing legislation, is to reintegrate returned...

Based mainly on surveys of 40 manufacturing enterprises in Mauritius and 41 enterprises in Kenya, examines the relationship between competitiveness, manufacturing capabilities and employment. Proposes a manufacturing capability index and examines the factors affecting it in each country....

In this paper, we propose to discuss profitability conditions of a subcontracting constraint for subcontractor companies. The subcontracting imposes unavailability periods of the production unit in order to periodically perform subcontracting tasks (ST). We study the subcontracting constraint...

In this paper, a framework for assessing the cost effectiveness of lean tools is developed. The framework consists of eight phases within the plan-do-check-act (PDCA) problem solving and continuous improvement cycle. The framework was verified using a case study of a sawmill process at a wood...

A modified median chart with estimated control limits is proposed for monitoring the mean value of a normal process. The estimates for the nominal process parameters used to set up the control limits in Phase I are the average of the sample medians and the average of the sample ranges of m...