This paper examines the bidding behavior of firms competing in the newly created spot market for electricity in Texas, where electricity generating firms submit hourly supply schedules to sell power. The publisher characterizes an equilibrium model of bidding into this market and use detailed firm-level data on bids and marginal...
Educational dollars don't go quite as far in some parts of the country as they do in others. Therefore, there is considerable interest in developing a measure of the cost of education that can facilitate cross-state comparisons of school district expenditures and be used to adjust school finance formula. One...
Distributed sensing, a system-wide deployment of sensing devices, has resulted in both temporally and spatially dense data-rich environments. This new technology provides unprecedented opportunities for quality and productivity improvement. This paper discusses the state-of-the-art practice, research challenges, and future directions related to distributed sensing. The discussion includes optimal design of...
Research on product development often focuses on activities prior to product launch. However, for long-lived, adaptable products like software, post-launch updates can account for the major portion of life cycle benefits and costs. Thus, it is important to understand how development decisions can influence the dynamics of product evolution. In...
Global corporations have their operations in multiple countries across the globe. The factors to be kept in mind while expanding the business operations to outside countries include differences in legal systems in different countries, home country laws, host country laws, and political environment of the host country. The paper examines...
International trade involves voluntary exchange of goods, services, assets, or money between residents of two different countries. It can be analyzed from two different perspectives viz. country-based theories and firm-based theories. International investment involves investing in a country other than the native country. It can take two forms viz. Foreign...
The focus of this presentation is to determine if there is a relationship between the Qualities of Spiritual Leadership and Organizational Commitment and Productivity. Leadership is the art of mobilizing others to want to struggle for shared aspirations. The common bridge between spirituality and religion is Altruistic love – regard...
Niche marketing is targeting a product or service to a small portion of a market that is not being readily served by the mainstream product or service marketers. Each business activity begins with the intention to fill perceived voids in the market place. However, niche marketing usually refers to small...
Any time mortgage interest rates drop, homeowners flock to refinance their loans. The question is, should they? Refinancing is not always beneficial. In some instances, there is more to be gained by banking the money required for refinancing charges and fees. And timing can be key. If rates have not...
The focus of this presentation is upon human resource development across cultures. There are various reasons for training before overseas assignments. The most important are organizational and personal reasons. In this cultural assimilator plays a very crucial role. It is defined as learning tool designed to expose members of one...
The paper examines ‘engineers’ as ‘employees’ and discusses their responsibilities in this capacity. Large number of organizations, today, employ engineers. The decision-making activity is often the cause of conflict between engineers and managers in the organization. The inherent difference between the professional and managerial background is yet another cause of...
Experts suggest that running a business is all about managing risks. As a result, the demand for risk management has also risen. The process of risk management involves identifying the loopholes within organizations and devising steps to curb the risks. Most organizations have resorted to techniques of Enterprise Risk Management...
The boundary-less business world of today has seen organizations expanding their operations outside their native countries. Such organizations are known as global corporations. International marketing refers to marketing activities coordinated and operated across multiple country markets. It entails adapting the product to economies and cultures prevalent in different countries of...
In today’s era, pursuing a market-centric strategy helps in sustaining an organization in the long run. Therefore, recent years have seen an increase in the importance of measurement systems that enable market driven service performance. These systems help to bridge the gap between service expectation and delivery. This, in turn,...
This presentation highlights upon human resource selection. Some of the sources of HR are home-country nationals/ expatriates, host-country nationals, and third-country nationals. The major reason for the decline in expatriates in recent years is the large expenses involved. However, in certain cases there is also repatriation of expatriates. This selection...
Organizational behavior is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and structures have on behavior within the organization. This impact works towards improving the organization’s effectiveness. In this context, the paper delves into the concept of organization, management functions, and management skills. It also discusses the...
Engineers at the Energy Systems Laboratory at Texas A&M University conducted short term energy metering studies at a complex of offices in northern Texas and several buildings on the Texas A&M University campus. These studies typically consisted of installing electrical metering at the whole building level and included sub-metering of...
Motivation is a psychological process through which unsatisfied wants or needs lead to drives that that are aimed at goals or incentives. This presentation gives the overview of theories of motivation. It discusses that content theories eExplain work motivation in terms of what arouses, energizes, or initiates employee...
Leadership is the process of directing the behavior of others towards the accomplishment of certain organizational objectives. A leader motivates, influences, and directs the group towards achievement of these goals. Individual characteristics of the leader and situational factors in which the leadership process occurs are some of the factors affecting...
The purpose of the study presented in this paper was to determine the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats associated with using Distance Education DE technologies in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Texas A&M University from the perspective of administrators, faculty, and professional support staff. Rogers ' Diffusion...
