Sten A. Thore - Böcker

This study re-examines some of the main portions of the discipline of economics from the point of view of economic change and creativity. There are two aspects to this perspective. First, diversity and complexity: the range of different kinds of high technology products available to consumers and producers increases rapidly. As these hierarchies grow, they deliver ever more diversified and complex high tech goods. Powerful new corporations will emerge. Second, self-organization and evolution: living organisms spontaneously establish patterns and order. So does the economy. Some of the patterns of the economic world used to be large, vertically integrated corporations and multinational corporations. This structure is now falling apart and new industrial patterns are emerging: small, narrowly specialized corporations. The author argues that the US economy is currently experiencing a turbulent "phase transition", moving from one phase of capitalism to the next. New species of corporations, markets, and economic institutions are emerging.

This work uses techniques of optimization and operations research to develop the first comprehensive survey of the entire field of the optimization of resource, production, and distribution systems. Sten Thore proposes an economic logistics that is similar to the well-known concept of military logistics, but which is expanded to include such features as the optimal location of plants, inventories and retail outlets, and the management of hierarchical multi-echelon production, inventory, and distribution systems. The study of individual features of this supply process is familiar from operations research, but Thore joins these elements together into larger analytic structures encompassing the production and distribution system in an entire industry.Following an introductory chapter and a review of the saddle-point theory, coauthored with W. W. Cooper, Thore explores the three dimensions of the supply process synthesis: the spatial dimension (as in simple transportation systems), the vertical dimension (extending from resources to finished consumer goods, as in activity analysis), and the time dimension (as in inventory accumulation and investment). The combination of these then leads to models of such diverse subjects as regional warehouse systems, activity analysis and activity networks, multi-stage warehouse systems of intermediate goods, distribution networks, and spatial equilibrium. Each chapter contains its own exercises which are solved numerically and discussed in great detail, and illustrate such optimization techniques as linear and nonlinear programming, goal programming and goal focusing, chance-constrained programming, and infinite games. This work is designed for use in graduate courses in economics and mathematics modeling, and will also be a useful addition to college and university library collections.

This title examines both general research and development commercialization and targeted new product innovation. New product development is a major occupation of the technical sector of the global economy and is viewed in many ways as a means of economic stability for a business, an industry, and a country. The heart of the book is a detailing of the analytical methods - with special, but not exclusive emphasis on DEA methods - for evaluating and ranking the most promising R&D and technical innovation being developed. The sponsors of the research and development may involve universities, countries, industries, and corporations - all of these sources are covered in the book. In addition, the trade-off of environmental problems vis-a-vis new product development is discussed in a section of the book. Sten Thore has woven together the chapter contributions by a strong group of international researchers into a book that has characteristics of both a monograph and a unified edited volume of well-written papers in DEA, technology evaluation, R&D, and environmental economics.The book's emphasis on methods for evaluative ranking the multiple dimensions of research and development should make the book useful for a wide audience of researchers, students, and practitioners. Finally, the use of DEA as an evaluation method for product innovation is an important new development in the field of R&D commercialization.

Technology Commercialization: DEA and Related Analytical Methods for Evaluating The Use and Implementation of Technical Innovation examines both general Research & Development commercialization and targeted new product innovation. New product development is a major occupation of the technical sector of the global economy and is viewed in many ways as a means of economic stability for a business, an industry, and a country. The heart of the book is a detailing of the analytical methods-with special, but not exclusive emphasis on DEA methods-for evaluating and ranking the most promising R & D and technical innovation being developed. The sponsors of the research and development may involve universities, countries, industries, and corporations-all of these sources are covered in the book. In addition, the trade-off of environmental problems vis-à-vis new product development is discussed in a section of the book.Sten Thore (editor and author) has woven together the chapter contributions by a strong group of international researchers into a book that has characteristics of both a monograph and a unified edited volume of well-written papers in DEA, technology evaluation, R&D, and environmental economics. Finally, the use of DEA as an evaluation method for product innovation is an important new development in the field of R&D commercialization.

IC2 is a research institute which is active in developing programs in a variety of areas, from possible pricing strategies on the Internet to approaches to aid insurance regulators. This book examines the strategies and applications developed to forward these programs.What can research contribute in the way of innovative approaches to deal constructively with the burgeoning problems related to juvenile delinquency? How can the Internet and the World Wide Web be used to advance health care? How should the services of the Internet be priced when the US government ceases its support? These are some of the questions addressed in this volume illustrating the impact of IC2.The book is divided into three sections: the first examines new programs being developed by IC2; the second looks at new methodologies; and the third reviews new science. The research topics covered point to potential ways of bringing research into practical use. This book will be of interest to scholars and researchers interested in the improvement of management and social policy issues.