In econometrics, the derivation of a theoretical model leads sometimes to two econometric models, which can be considered justified based on their respective approximation approaches. Hence, the decision of choosing one between the two hinges on applied econometric tools. In this paper, the authors develop a theoretical econometrics consumer maximization model to measure the flow of durables’ expenditures where depreciation is added to former classical econometrics model. The proposed model was formulated in both linear and logarithmic forms. Box-Cox tests were used to choose the most appropriate one among them. The proposed model was then applied to the historical data from the U.S. and China for a comparative study and the results discussed.

Tourism is one of the fastest growing sectors in the world and a major driver of growth for developed countries. To maximize the tourism sector & apos; s economic benefits‚ tourism development‚ planning and strategies not only have to focus on increasing demand and supply‚ but also they must concentrate on raising the level of value retention and on value creation and value co-creation within the sectors. Serious policy in one of these sectors may threat the whole tourism value chain. This makes analysis of the sector complex but crucial as it could be the catalyst for wide spread reforms. To offer a better tourism product, one should understand the sources of critical factors (ie: environmental, industry and organizational factors) for competing either domestically or internationally. Comparative and competitive advantages, information and communication systems and E-tourism, knowledge of value and value chain (identifying and analyzing the specific activities through which it can create value for its customers) all are the perquisite for value creation and value co-creation (the source of value lies in the personalized experiences that are unique to each individual customer). To achieve these, special attention must be devoted to strategic management, planning and society, in order to satisfy all stakeholders & apos; expectation. Based on the above paradigm a model for value creation in tourism is proposed in this paper. It is hoped that this study could drive destinations to create and co- create the values that makes a unique and memorable experience for each tourist.

One of the necessary actions in many organizations is to reduce the number of workers in an attempt to restructure business activities. However, layoff could have negative consequences since many employees may decide to leave since they lose their tolerance. The layoff must be accompanied with some supportive plans to reduce stress among the remaining workers and increase their commitment for long-term work. The present study of this paper considers the effects of layoff on job satisfaction and commitment among the remaining employees of a detergent producer unit. The results indicate that a good supportive program including wage increase, family support, health care plans, etc. could significantly improve employee long-term commitments and it leads to job satisfaction.

Social welfare plays an important role on helping needy people build their future. There is no doubt that a good social welfare program in any country could indirectly reduce rates of crimes and violence. In this study, we examine the quality of life between welfare receivers and ordinary people. The proposed study of this paper designs a questionnaire consists of nine questions and distribute between two groups of 50 people. The questions are based on Likert scale from very low to very high and the feedbacks are analyzed using some statistical tests. The results indicate that typical ordinary people have better life style in terms of nutrition, healthcare, housing and shelter, education, employment, income, social relationships, marital status, entertainment than welfare receivers do.

The purpose of this paper is to measure the relative efficiencies of various cow husbandries. The proposed model of this paper uses distribution free analysis to measure the performance of different units responsible for taking care of cows. We gather the necessary information of all units including number of cows, amount of internet usage, number of subunits for taking care of cows, amount of forage produced in each province for grazing livestock and average hour per person training courses as independent variables and consider the amount of produced milk as dependent variable. The necessary information are collected from all available units located in different provinces of Iran and the production function is estimated using a linear programming model. The results indicate that the capital city of Iran, Tehran, holds the highest technical efficiency, the lowest efficiency belongs to province of Ilam and other provinces mostly performs poorly.

Through outsourcing, a company can expand and develop its sources and capacities by accessing to higher quality services and better functionality. This paper deals with the perception of the managers of the telecommunication industry sector on the effects of outsourcing on operational strategy and especially on the issues associated with cost reduction, developed quality, flexibility and better service. Because of the importance of the strategic feature of outsourcing, we examined its effects on the organizational function of the telecommunication industries. This study shows that managers believe that outsourcing has a great impact not only on the cost reduction but also on other goals of operational strategies, which makes outsourcing become inherently more strategic. In addition, it seems that outsourcing influences function noticeably. In the present research, the relationships between propensity to outsourcing and operational objectives and organizational performance in telecommunication industries are assessed. The aim of this research is to examine the propensity to outsourcing and its impacts on operational objectives including cost reduction, improved quality, flexibility and better service and organizational performance, which includes financial performance and non-financial performance. In the research, data are collected through field research and questionnaires. The questionnaires are distributed among the board of directors, quality managers, operational administrators, and lower managers and then the feedbacks are analyzed using SPSS and Minitab software based on deductive and descriptive statistics.

Performance evaluation is one of the most important techniques to prioritize different decision making units. Data envelopment analysis (DEA), as a non-parametric method, plays an important role for measuring relative efficiency. Balanced score card, on the other hand, is another method to evaluate a business plan based on non-financial perspectives. The integrated BSC-DEA takes advantage of the advantages of both methods & apos; features. In this paper, we propose a BSC-DEA method to rank different decision making units. We consider different financial criteria such as profit-margin, return on assets along with non-financial criteria such as customer satisfaction, advanced services, employee skills to compare the performance of different banks. The results are analyzed and discussed, which could be used for making better decisions.

With the increasing importance and the role that websites play in all aspects of life, more and more web development projects are being undertaken by companies. One of the key decisions in which both short-term and long-term success of the project depends is choosing the right development platform. Its criticality can be judged by the fact that once a platform is chosen, one has to live with it throughout the software development life cycle. The entire shape of the project depends on the language, operating system, tools, frameworks etc., in short the web development platform chosen. In addition, choosing the right platform is a multi criteria decision making (MCDM) problem. We propose a fuzzy analytical hierarchy process model to solve the MCDM problem. We try to tap the real-life modeling potential of fuzzy logic and conjugate it with the commonly used powerful AHP modeling method.

The main aim of this study is to assess the physical work capacity of bricklayers with focus on the energy expenditure during work. Eighty Nine bricklayers’ working on various sites in Ibadan and Eruwa towns of Oyo State, Nigeria are used for the study. Correlation and regression analysis using SPSS 16.0 Statistical Package was used to determine the relationship between VO2 given the age and weight of the subjects; % RHR(Relative Heart Rate) and working heart rate (HRW) given weight; VO2 and %RHR given Body Mass Index (BMI).
The results showed that the mean energy expenditure of bricklaying was 1.5l/min of oxygen (7.23Kcal/min, using a conversion factor of 4.82) which classified bricklaying as “heavy work”. A rest allowance of 64.45% (38.67 minutes rest for 60 minutes work duration) was calculated.
It was concluded that there is a need to redesign the work content of the aforementioned occupation in order to reduce excessive strain on the workers, which in turn will increase productivity.

Motivation is one of the most important factors influencing workers & apos; productivity. An increase in workers & apos; motivation could add more value to organizations & apos; structure and influence the profitability, significantly. In this paper, we study different factors on demotivating workers using questionnaire consist of various questions. The questionnaire is distributed among some employees who work for rubber production units located in Esfahan, Iran. The results of this survey indicate that discrimination on annual job compensation, entrusting responsibilities and unpleasant relationship with family partner are some of the most important factors influencing employees & apos; motivation. While financial factors play important role on increasing employees & apos; motivation, non-financial factors are considered more important.