Inference to the Best Explanation, Relative Plausibility, and Probability

2021 ◽  
pp. 201-214
Author(s):  
Ronald J. Allen ◽  
Michael S. Pardo
Keyword(s):  
Hard Science ◽  
Legal Proof ◽  
The One ◽  
Practical Implications

In many areas of life, from hard science to managing one’s everyday affairs, explanatory considerations help to guide inference. From the fact that some proposition would explain a given phenomenon we infer that the proposition is true. And when several propositions may explain a given phenomenon we infer the one that best explains it. Inferences all share the same structure, typically referred to as “abduction” or “inference to the best explanation.” Because legal proof falls somewhere between science and managing one’s everyday affairs, it should perhaps not be surprising that the juridical proof process involves similar inferential practices. This chapter juxtaposes an explanation-based account of juridical proof against different probability accounts, develops an argument about the descriptive superiority of the explanation-based account over its competitors, and sets forth the theoretical and practical implications of this argument.

How Phillips saw the light

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (8) ◽  
pp. 29-31
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Reading Time ◽  
Daily Basis ◽  
Business World ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Freak Show ◽  
The World ◽  
Pertinent Information ◽  
The One ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose Reviews the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoints practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies. Design/methodology/approach This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings The problem with developing a reputation of being something of an oracle in the business world is that all of a sudden, everyone expects you to pull off the trick of interpreting the future on a daily basis. Like a freak show circus act or one-hit wonder pop singer, people expect you to perform when they see you, and they expect you to perform the thing that made you famous, even if it is the one thing in the world you don’t want to do. And when you fail to deliver on these heightened expectations, you are dismissed as a one trick pony, however good that trick is in the first place. Originality/value The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

Supply resource management: Salomon and his network of subcontractors in Romania

2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 4-6
Author(s):  
Richard Calvi
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Resource Management ◽  
Competitive Advantage ◽  
Strategic Decisions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
External Resources ◽  
Internal Resources ◽  
The One ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose According to Christopher (2000), in a lot of sectors, the competition is a question of supply chain against supply chain. The winner in term of competitive advantage should be the one, who is able to obtain more than the competitor from the available resources. In strategic literature, Dyer and Singh (1998) are the first who introduced the concept of “relational competency” to explain why some companies gain their competitive advantage not directly from their internal resources but mainly because they are able better to combine external resources. Design/methodology/approach This paper is a case study. Findings The author describes the different phases and strategic decisions in the building of a real supplier eco-system. Research limitations/implications It is a sole case study. Practical implications This study is a description of a success story. Originality/value This study is a description of an external resource management in action.

From the boundaries of management to the management of boundaries

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 391-413 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Caputo ◽  
Raffaele Fiorentino ◽  
Stefano Garzella
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Business Processes ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Firm Boundaries ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Multiple Partners ◽  
The One ◽  
Development And Management ◽  
Practical Implications

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine some of the new capabilities that are required for the facilitation of business processes management (BPM) in the current political and technological landscape. Specifically, the goal is to investigate the role of firm boundaries, from a business processes perspective, in new contexts in which the affirmation of digitalization requires more integration across a complex network of partners.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on a review of relevant literature on BPM, firm boundaries and negotiation. By critically integrating this literature, a framework is developed with the objective of supporting the management of boundaries.FindingsBPM, new competitive contexts, and the technological landscape require the development and management of boundary capabilities. Among these capabilities, “boundary management” – how managers coordinate resources, activities and business processes on the boundaries of the firm – should play a key role. Moreover, as managers must continuously interact with multiple partners in digital supply chains, the organizational model of negotiation serves as a means of effectively managing firm boundaries.Practical implicationsThe framework offers insights and guidelines that can help practitioners manage the boundaries of business processes. The authors encourage a focus on business processes occurring at firm boundaries. Furthermore, the authors encourage the development of new capabilities in response to the needs of practitioners to ensure best practices of negotiation.Originality/valueThis study shifts the emphasis of BPM from the boundaries of management to the management of boundaries. By shedding light on new capabilities required, this paper enriches the BPM literature and can assist, on the one hand, in reconfiguring business processes in the new political and technological landscape and, on the other hand, in facilitating effective negotiation.

Debt Crises, Economic Adjustment, and Labour Standards

2018 ◽  
pp. 284-302 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky ◽  
Franz Christian Ebert
Keyword(s):  
Financial Institutions ◽  
Economic Effects ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Financial Institutions ◽  
Labour Law ◽  
Economic Adjustment ◽  
Labour Standards ◽  
The One ◽  
Practical Implications

This chapter examines the relation between economic adjustments, on the one hand, and labour standards, on the other. Section I reviews how labour standard issues have been addressed in different economic adjustment programmes, often initiated at the behest of international financial institutions, or the institutions of what was formerly known as the ‘Troika’. Subsequently, Section II analyses the legal and practical implications thereof. It explains how several labour law reforms required by international financial institutions in the context of economic adjustment have, on a number of occasions, driven countries into violations of international human rights law and international labour law in particular. Section III goes on to examine the economic case of deregulatory labour law reforms in the context of economic adjustment. It shows that the empirical evidence for negative economic effects of labour law in general and in the context of financial and economic crises in particular is at best highly controversial and cannot justify the highly problematic social effects and breaches of international law these reforms have often entailed.

Regularity and Variability

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 19-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lun Zhang ◽  
Jonathan J. H. Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Multinomial Logistic Regression ◽  
Growth Patterns ◽  
Friendship Formation ◽  
Interpersonal Communications ◽  
Network Connectedness ◽  
Power Pattern ◽  
The One ◽  
Personal Strategy ◽  
Practical Implications

Social network sites (SNSs) have brought revolutionary changes to individuals' social interactions. The growth of online personal relationships is crucial for understanding current interpersonal communications and network dynamics. In the context of a Chinese SNS, this study provides an empirical presentation of the growth patterns of individuals' online friendships. This study uncovers the regularity as well as the variability of such growth patterns. On the one hand, the friendship growth patterns show regularity in that the time trajectory of friendship growth for most users levels off at some point of their friendship formation. On the other hand, the growth patterns of online friendships also demonstrate variability. There are three essentially different growth patterns emerged: the logistic pattern (i.e., S-shape), the double-logistic pattern (i.e., double-S shape), and the power pattern (i.e., rotated-L shape). By employing multinomial logistic regression, this study further found that network connectedness lead to the differences in these growth patterns of online friendships. However, a user's personal strategy of online friendship formation is found to have a nil effect on explaining the differences in growth patterns of online friendships. This paper concludes by discussing the theoretical and practical implications of the growth patterns of online relationships.

scholarly journals Disproportional Ownership Devices: Reviewing the Last 25 Years of Research

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Saggese ◽  
Fabrizia Sarto
Keyword(s):  
Financial Markets ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Civil Law ◽  
The Other ◽  
Main Research ◽  
The One ◽  
Lock In ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Scholarly Attention ◽  
Over Time

<p>The paper aims to systematize the literature on disproportional ownership devices by reviewing and classifying 148 articles published in international academic journals over the last 25 years. The findings show that the scholarly attention on disproportional ownership devices has grown over time. Most papers adopt the agency framework and examine the mechanisms for leveraging voting power and to lock-in control, especially in civil law countries. Corporate governance journals prevail as leading outlets, despite the lack of publications specialized on the topic. Finally, the literature systematization highlights a research taxonomy based on outcomes and drivers of disproportional ownership devices. The article has both theoretical and practical implications. First, it develops a literature framework that systematically outlines the main research streams on the topic and identifies under-explored issues so as to guide future scholarly efforts. Second, it highlights the implications of disproportional ownership devices for company outcomes and reporting. Thereby, on the one hand, it supports managers in selecting the appropriate combination of these mechanisms so as to attract and retain investors. On the other hand, it emphasizes the importance of proper policy making interventions to improve transparency, openness and competitiveness of financial markets.</p>

Examining the interrelatedness between ontologies and Linked Data

2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 312-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
Biswanath Dutta
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Linked Data ◽  
Current Work ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
World Systems ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Web Technologies ◽  
The One ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose Ontology and Linked Data (LD) are the two prominent web technologies that have emerged in the recent past. Both of them are at the center of Semantic Web and its applications. Researchers and developers from both academia and business are actively working in these areas. The increasing interest in these technologies promoted the growth of LD sets and ontologies on the web. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the possible relationships between them. The effort is to investigate the possible roles that ontologies may play in further empowering the LD. In a similar fashion, the author also studies the possible roles that LD may play to empower ontologies. Design/methodology/approach The work is mainly carried out by exploring the ontology- and LD-based real-world systems, and by reviewing the existing literature. Findings The current work reveals, in general, that both the technologies are interdependent and have lots to offer to each other for their faster growth and meaningful development. Specifically, anything that we can do with LD, we can do more by adding an ontology to it. Practical implications The author envisions that the current work, in the one hand, will help in boosting the successful implementation and the delivery of semantic applications; on the other hand, it will also become a food for the future researchers in further investigating the relationships between the ontologies and LD. Originality/value So far, as per the author’s knowledge, there are very little works that have attempted in exploring the relationships between the ontologies and LD. In this work, the author illustrates the real-world systems that are based on ontology and LD, discusses the issues and challenges and finally illustrates their interdependency discussing some of the ongoing research works.

scholarly journals 25 Years of Sustainability. A Critical Assessment

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 175-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandru-Ionuţ Petrişor ◽  
Liliana Petrişor
Keyword(s):  
Impact Assessment ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Growth Strategy ◽  
Spatial Thinking ◽  
Sustainable Communities ◽  
Strategic Impact ◽  
Underlying Causes ◽  
Zero Growth ◽  
The One ◽  
Practical Implications

Abstract25 years have passed since the 'Brundtland Report‘ defined sustainability as a possibility to equally meet current and future needs. 15 years later, the author of the definition stated that despite of the fact that the definition does not need to be changed, its understanding bettered off during the interval. 25 years later, the present paper takes an in-depth look at the concept and its practical implications. One of the issues being addressed refers to the pillars of sustainability; their number increased by 25% to include the cultural pillar in addition to the economic, social, and cultural one. Spatial thinking added a new dimension, translating into concepts like 'sustainable communities‘ or 'self standing village‘ at the local level, and 'polycentricity‘ and 'cohesion‘ at the regional one. Furthermore, practical implications include environmental impact assessment (evolving towards strategic impact assessment), internalization of externalities, ecological restoration, and a new view on conservation, different from the one addressed by the 'Zero Growth Strategy‘. In addition, the paper discusses several criticism addressed to the concept and its implementation, attempting to reveal their underlying causes. Overall, the critical analysis shows that the attempts to achieve sustainability did not change the concept as much as its understanding.

Hopes and fears

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 27-29
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Reading Time ◽  
Business Organizations ◽  
Operating Environment ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Technological Developments ◽  
Pertinent Information ◽  
New Challenges ◽  
The One ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies. Design/methodology/approach – This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings – To say it is tough for business organizations today would be a massive understatement. Thanks largely to globalization and technological developments, the operating environment has arguably become more competitive than ever before. Firms thus need to constantly evolve in order to meet the array of new challenges which regularly face them. For those unable to adapt, survival and prosperity may ultimately be elusive. Change has invariably proved to be something of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it can signal opportunity and prompt excitement and anticipation. But many others see change in terms of threat. Practical implications – The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world’s leading organizations. Originality/value – The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document