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.

The dimensions of service quality and their relationship with the behavioral pattern of customers have received immense importance in the banking sector. The relational impact of service quality on customers’ propensity to switch from their banking service provider, is therefore, very much relevant. Empirical studies have revealed that there is a significant relationship between retention of customers and profitability. Therefore, to have an understanding of the behavioral pattern of the customers with respect to their intention to defect from their bank is financially justified. This paper investigates the relationship between service quality and switching behavior of customers in the context of the largest nationalized bank of India –State Bank of India (SBI) for two of their branches in sub-urban West Bengal namely Bolpur and Santiniketan.

In this study, the integrated forward/reverse logistics network is investigated, and a capacitated multi-stage, multi-product logistics network design is proposed by formulating a generalized logistics network problem into a mixed-integer nonlinear programming model (MINLP) for minimizing the total cost of the closed-loop supply chain network. Moreover, the proposed model is solved by using optimization solver, which provides the decisions related to the facility location problem, optimum quantity of shipped product, and facility capacity. Numerical results show the power of the proposed MINLP model to avoid th sub-optimality caused by separate design of forward and reverse logistics networks and to handle various transportation modes and periodic demand.

Financing plays an important role for renewal of old city building is find suitable financing plan. A proper financial management in one hand has a direct relationship with project main factors such as: time, cost and quality of the project, and on the other hand, achieving project goals requires a comprehensive insight of project, stockholders as well as other relative situation in regard with the project. Considering the complication of execution such projects and the number of shareholders, one of the best attitudes towards the project management is risk management. This research is a qualitative and practical, which reviews the effects of project management factors on financial return of urban renewal sachem. The required information gained through a survey and via questionnaire and interviews with specialists. This article first describes the public private financial partnership and then, based on the results gained from a case study done on one of the renewal schemes in Mashhad metropolitan areas. Next, it identifies and evaluates of positive and negative risks, which lead to threats and opportunities will be performed and will attempt to respond the existent risks. Finally, we provide a framework for the risk assessment of the housing units.

Global economies around the world have experienced the most traumatic moments in the last one-decade. The crisis has been described by scholars, as perhaps been the worst financial crisis since the great economic depression of the 1930s. This paper lucidly examines the effects of global economic recession on the development of human capital with reference to Nigeria nation. The objectives of the paper among others are (i) To establish the level of the impact of global economic recession on development of skills of human capital in Nigeria (ii) To examine if there is any significant relationship between global economic recession and the motivation of human capital development in Nigeria among others. The paper uses survey method with two research hypotheses. Questionnaires were administered among academic staff of two Nigerian universities in the southwest part of Nigeria. Findings showed that the global economic recession has great impact on the development of skills of human capital in Nigeria. Findings also revealed that there exists a positive relationship between global economic recession and training and development of human capital in Nigeria. The paper offers useful policy recommendations, which include the need for government and appropriate agencies to put in place policies such as enabling environment that will lead to the growth and development of human capital in Nigeria. Government needs to put forward policies that minimize cost at all levels, maximize efficiency of output, training and retraining of goods hands; and that there is need to encourage better motivation of workers at every sector of the economy amongst others.

Recommender systems are tools for realization one to one marketing. Recommender systems are systems, which attract, retain, and develop customers. Recommender systems use several ways to make recommendations. Two ways are using more than the others: collaborative filtering and content-based filtering. In this study, a recommender system model based on collaborative filtering has proposed. Proposed model was endeavored to improve the customer profile in collaborative systems to enhance the recommender system efficiency. This improvement was done using time context and group preferences. Experimental results show that the proposed model has a better recommendation performance than existing models.

Today automotive companies must pioneer in strategies such as the agile supply chain for competition and various demands of customers. Considering the importance of agile in choosing a supplier at the supply chain, this study tries to identify and evaluate agile activities in SAPCO Company suppliers. Then, using principal component analysis of factor analysis, a number of related activities are divided into smaller groups called factor. The results are used by SAPCO to determine agile patterns in selecting a supplier with emphasis on similarities and differences and create agile portfolio. The study can help SAPCO identify criteria and making decision in the field of agile at suppliers.

One of the primary concerns of many corporate organizations is to assess the weakness and strength of their future partners in an attempt to reduce all potential risks involved with them. In this paper, we present a BSC-DEA based model to indentify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of a firm. The proposed model of this paper assumes there are various uncertainties associated with all input/output parameters and uses fuzzy numbers to handle the uncertainties. We also consider a real-world case study of banking industry where four major banks are possible candidates of a partnership and implement the proposed model of this paper for this case study. The results of this study reveal some of the issues such as weakness of electronic banking, services and resource allocation as part of their infrastructure problems.

The new millennium has commenced with an increase awareness of precious value of human resources. Many large firms have increased to use new human resources mobilization policies and the importance of human potential in business has developed, dramatically. There different methods to help human resources increase their potentials such as providing recreational centers, athletic facilities, etc. In this paper, we study the impact of providing exercise facilities on improving the efficiency of employees in management level in the biggest steel producers in Iran called Mobarakeh Steel Complex. In this company, there were about 85 middle level managers and supervisors and the proposed study selects 30 people, randomly and divides them into two equal groups. In the first stage of the study, questionnaire of vocational relation are distributed among the participants of our experiment and we measure some important factors, which could improve vocational relationships. Next, the experimental groups are invited to take part in some selective aerobic programs for 8 weeks and 3 sessions per week and 1 hour and 15 minutes per session, regularly. Finally, we repeat the same experiments after the aerobic programs end and compare the results with the first one. The preliminary results indicate that there is a meaningful difference between the healthcares of these two groups.

One of the primary concerns on many countries is to determine different important factors affecting economic growth. In this paper, we study some factors such as unemployment rate, inflation ratio, population growth, average annual income, etc to cluster different countries. The proposed model of this paper uses analytical hierarchy process (AHP) to prioritize the criteria and then uses a K-mean technique to cluster 59 countries based on the ranked criteria into four groups. The first group includes countries with high standards such as Germany and Japan. In the second cluster, there are some developing countries with relatively good economic growth such as Saudi Arabia and Iran. The third cluster belongs to countries with faster rates of growth compared with the countries located in the second group such as China, India and Mexico. Finally, the fourth cluster includes countries with relatively very low rates of growth such as Jordan, Mali, Niger, etc.