This paper employs the methodology of Agent-Based Computational Economics (ACE) to investigate under what conditions trust can be viable in markets. The emergence and breakdown of trust is modeled in a context of multiple buyers and suppliers. Agents adapt their trust in a partner, the weight...

Steel structures such as bridges, tanks and pylons are exposed to outdoor weathering conditions. In order to prevent them from corrosion they are protected by an organic coating system. Unfortunately, the coating system itself is also subject to deterioration. Imperfect maintenance actions such...

This article provides empirical tests of the hypothesis of ‘optimal cognitive distance’, proposed by Nooteboom (1999, 2000), in two distinct empirical settings. Variety of cognition, needed for learning, has two dimensions: the number of agents with different cognition, and differences in...

This paper offers a meta-theory concerning the relation between the general and the specific in science. This issue was recently called back to attention by Hodgson (2001). A heuristic of discovery, developed in earlier work (Nooteboom 1992, 1996, 1999b, 2000a), is used in an attempt to...

This paper connects theory of learning with theory of governance, in the context of inter-firm relations. It recognizes fundamental criticism of transaction cost economics (TCE), but preserves elements from that theory. The theory of governance used incorporates learning and trust. The paper...

In this paper, we consider a continuous review inventory system of a slow moving item for which the demand rate drops to a lower level at a pre-determined time. Inventory system is controlled according to one-for-one replenishment policy with fixed lead time. Adaptation to the lower demand rate...

In the warehouse of Ankor, a wholesaler of tools and garden equipment, various problems concerning the storage and retrieval of products arise. For example, heavy products have to be retrieved prior to light products to prevent damage. Furthermore, the layout of the warehouse differs from the...

This paper analyses how organizational routines change. It focuses on the level of learning groups within organizations. The paper starts with a summary of the 'activity theory' of knowledge used. Next, the notion of scripts is used, to analyse organizational groups as 'systems of distributed...

In this paper we deal with a common problem found in the operations of security and preventive/corrective maintenance services: that of routing a number of mobile resources to serve foreseen and unforeseen tasks during a shift. We define the (Mobile Re-Allocation Problem) MRAP as the problem of...

Real-time railway operations are subject to stochastic disturbances. However, a railway timetable is a deterministic plan. Thus a timetable should be designed in such a way that it can absorb the stochastic disturbances as well as possible. To that end, a timetable contains buffer times between...