scholarly journals Non-stationary Stochastic Multi-armed Bandit Problems with External Information on Stationarity

2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. D-K84_1-11
Author(s):  
Hiroyuki Namba
Keyword(s):  
External Information ◽  
Bandit Problems

The economic analysis of rationality in the tradition of Harvey Leibenstein

2020 ◽  
pp. 21-38
Author(s):  
Ivan V. Rozmainsky ◽  
Yulia I. Pashentseva
Keyword(s):  
Economic Analysis ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Informal Institutions ◽  
External Information ◽  
Urban Residents ◽  
The Future ◽  
Information Constraints ◽  
High Degree ◽  
Market Capitalism

The paper is devoted to the economic analysis of rationality in the tradition of Harvey Leibenstein: the authors perceive rationality as “calculatedness” when making decisions, while the degree of this “calculatedness” is interpreted as a variable. Thus, this approach does not correspond to the generally accepted neoclassical interpretation of rationality, according to which rationality is both full and constant. The authors believe that such a neoclassical approach makes too stringent requirements for the abilities of people. In real life, people do not behave like calculating machines. The paper discusses various factors limiting the degree of rationality of individuals. One group of factors is associated with external information constraints such as the complexity and extensiveness of information, as well as the uncertainty of the future. Another group of factors is related to informal institutions. In particular, the paper states that the system of planned socialism contributes to less rationality than the system of market capitalism. Thus, in the post-socialist countries, including contemporary Russia, one should not expect a high degree of rationality of the behavior of economic entities. The paper mentions, in particular, the factors of rationality caused by informal institutions, such as the propensity to calculate, the propensity to be independent when making decisions and the propensity to set goals. The authors also believe that people who live on their own are usually more rational than people who share a common household with someone else. This assumption is verified econometrically based on data on young urban residents collected by the authors. It turned out that the behavior of people included in this database, in general, corresponds to what the authors believed.

scholarly journals What Should SMEs Consider to Introduce Environmentally Innovative Products to Market?

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 1117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daegyu Yang
Keyword(s):  
External Information ◽  
Environmental Innovation ◽  
Technological Support ◽  
Innovation Activities ◽  
Innovative Products ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Potential Factors ◽  
The Government ◽  
Develop Market ◽  
Constrained Conditions

In recent years, companies are challenged not only to develop market competencies but also to deal with environmental issues. Unlike larger companies equipped with abundant resources and sustainable capabilities, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are under relatively constrained conditions to effectively deal with environmental concerns as well as market demands. This study attempts to examine a set of potential factors by which SMEs can overcome such limited conditions and bring novel and environmentally beneficial products to market through their innovative activities. Organization theories, such as organizational learning, social network theory, and new-institutional theory, provide a theoretical framework for this study that SMEs may utilize their resources and capabilities from internal, external, and institutional domains. The hypotheses are tested using the Korea Innovation Survey 2010. The analyses show that the likelihood of the market introduction of new and environmentally innovative products is increased not only when an SME makes more monetary investments on internal innovative activities and experiences more success in general innovation activities, but also when an SME inputs more monetary investments into the search for technological knowledge from the outside and utilizes more diverse external information sources. Interestingly, the findings demonstrate that monetary support from the government do not have significant impacts on an SME’s environmental innovation, while a non-monetary technological support system operated by government raises the likelihood of the market introduction of new and environmentally innovative products. Theoretical contributions and managerial implications are discussed.

scholarly journals An Evaluation Methodology for Interactive Reinforcement Learning with Simulated Users

Biomimetics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
Adam Bignold ◽  
Francisco Cruz ◽  
Richard Dazeley ◽  
Peter Vamplew ◽  
Cameron Foale
Keyword(s):  
Reinforcement Learning ◽  
Information Source ◽  
Human Interaction ◽  
Evaluation Methodology ◽  
External Information ◽  
Preliminary Evaluation ◽  
Learning Agents ◽  
Learning Agent ◽  
Knowledge Bias ◽  
The Impact

Interactive reinforcement learning methods utilise an external information source to evaluate decisions and accelerate learning. Previous work has shown that human advice could significantly improve learning agents’ performance. When evaluating reinforcement learning algorithms, it is common to repeat experiments as parameters are altered or to gain a sufficient sample size. In this regard, to require human interaction every time an experiment is restarted is undesirable, particularly when the expense in doing so can be considerable. Additionally, reusing the same people for the experiment introduces bias, as they will learn the behaviour of the agent and the dynamics of the environment. This paper presents a methodology for evaluating interactive reinforcement learning agents by employing simulated users. Simulated users allow human knowledge, bias, and interaction to be simulated. The use of simulated users allows the development and testing of reinforcement learning agents, and can provide indicative results of agent performance under defined human constraints. While simulated users are no replacement for actual humans, they do offer an affordable and fast alternative for evaluative assisted agents. We introduce a method for performing a preliminary evaluation utilising simulated users to show how performance changes depending on the type of user assisting the agent. Moreover, we describe how human interaction may be simulated, and present an experiment illustrating the applicability of simulating users in evaluating agent performance when assisted by different types of trainers. Experimental results show that the use of this methodology allows for greater insight into the performance of interactive reinforcement learning agents when advised by different users. The use of simulated users with varying characteristics allows for evaluation of the impact of those characteristics on the behaviour of the learning agent.

scholarly journals Modeling Changes in the Enterprise Information Capital in the Digital Economy

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 166
Author(s):  
Dmitriy Rodionov ◽  
Andrey Zaytsev ◽  
Evgeniy Konnikov ◽  
Nikolay Dmitriev ◽  
Yulia Dubolazova
Keyword(s):  
External Environment ◽  
Electronic Version ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
Information Environment ◽  
External Information ◽  
Digital Information ◽  
Information Analysis ◽  
Enterprise Information ◽  
Attractor Model ◽  
The Stability

The global COVID-19 pandemic has led to the self-isolation of people and the transformation of many economic and social processes into an electronic version thus contributing to the digitalization of all spheres. Being part of this environment, enterprises generate information resources to develop their desired image, which may vary according to the factors characterizing the information environment. Information capital is a comprehensive characteristic of an enterprise and determines its effectiveness and sustainability. The purpose of this study is to develop a toolkit that allows one to assess the information capital of an enterprise, reflecting its perception within the digital information environment. It is necessary to develop the methodology for the formation of such tools. As a result, a fuzzy-plural approach has been developed to evaluate the index of external information capital. This model allows us to assess the external information capital and to simulate its changes caused by various kinds of information events. The study of key elements, for example, the stability and tonality indices, index of target perception made it possible to systematize chaotic changes in the external environment and describe them using the Chen–Lee attractor model. The results of this study can be useful for researchers in the field of digital information analysis, in particular for the comparative analysis of enterprises and the assessment of their information capital.

scholarly journals The Interactions of Absorptive Capacity, Buffer Inventory, and Toxic Emissions on Firm Value

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 1979
Author(s):  
Lik Man Daphne Yiu ◽  
Ka Yui Karl Wu
Keyword(s):  
Absorptive Capacity ◽  
Firm Value ◽  
Market Value ◽  
Organizational Capabilities ◽  
Toxic Chemicals ◽  
External Information ◽  
Sustainable Competitive Advantage ◽  
Toxic Emissions ◽  
Organizational Mechanism ◽  
Low Toxic

A significant amount of research has been conducted on the impacts of emissions reduction, absorptive capacity, and buffer inventory on firm performance. According to the resource-based view (RBV), absorptive capacity and buffer inventory are organizational capabilities and resources to create sustainable competitive advantages. Yet, the resource orchestration perspective (ROP) of the RBV emphasizes that firms need to develop a new capability to orchestrate and deploy their existing capabilities and resources. From an organizational learning perspective, firms with the low-level release of toxic chemicals have established a structured system and systematic organizational routines, strengthening their learning capabilities to share and use internal and external information across functional areas for continuous improvements. This study explores and seeks to understand toxic emissions through systematic operational routines as an organizational mechanism. These routines orchestrate and deploy the firm-specific absorptive capacity and buffer inventory to generate a sustainable competitive advantage. We examine the impacts of the absorptive capacity and buffer inventory on firm value in terms of Tobin’s Q, respectively. We also explore how such impacts are moderated by toxic emissions. Our results show that the absorptive capacity significantly enhances the market value of firms. However, the relationship between the buffer inventory and firm value is insignificant. Our additional analyses indicate that the impacts of the absorptive capacity and buffer inventory on the firm value are both significantly positive when firms release low toxic chemicals. Our results further suggest that firms can maximize their market value with a high absorptive capacity, high buffer inventory, and low toxic emissions.

scholarly journals Conceptual Model for Integrating Environmental Impact in Managerial Accounting Information Systems

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 1791
Author(s):  
Sorina Geanina Stanescu ◽  
Ion Cucui ◽  
Constantin Aurelian Ionescu ◽  
Liliana Paschia ◽  
Mihaela Denisa Coman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Technological Process ◽  
Economic Activity ◽  
Management Accounting ◽  
Environmental Accounting ◽  
External Information ◽  
Accounting System ◽  
Managerial Accounting ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Environmental Management Accounting

The main research objective is to develop a conceptual accounting model to reflect the environmental impact generated by the economic activity of Romania’s entities. In order to identify the current stage of the use of environmental accounting by the Romanian economic entities, the questionnaire used was based on a random sample of 377 entities whose economic activity has a significant impact on the environment. The results suggest the need to develop a model for integrating environmental impact into accounting. The model is based on the description of the technological process and determination of the environmental impact on each activity, stage, or procedure of the technological process, which enterprise will integrate its monetary value in the cost of production and will reflect it in the management accounting system, using specific environmental accounting instruments. The model involves five stages, and by combining internal and external information provided by environmental management accounting is a relevant source for substantiating decisions to promote environmental responsibility in Romanian companies.

Burma Drinx Group (A): Strategizing for CEO Succession in a Family Business

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-32
Author(s):  
Daniel Degravel ◽  
Christina Hui Min Tun
Keyword(s):  
Family Business ◽  
Large Family ◽  
Asian Country ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
External Information ◽  
Ceo Succession ◽  
Academic Literature ◽  
Group A ◽  
Evolving Context

Burma Drinx Group, a large family-owned conglomerate in Myanmar, an Asian country in economic and political transition, is about to reinvent itself to achieve success and adaptation to its evolving context. Based on internal and external information about the firm, the case states the challenges and issues that Burma Drinx Group (thereafter BDG) is experiencing as a family-owned conglomerate operating in a ‘non-friendly’ business environment and in a turbulent political and economic context. It focuses on the group CEO Aung Win’s succession. The reader is invited to understand the specificities of BDG’s internal environment, and to manage the idiosyncrasies of this family business conglomerate regarding CEO Win’s succession. Beyond the succession issue, BDG’s decision-makers face critical challenges for the future and have to make bold and courageous decisions to build on the success of the organization. The case proposes a consulting-case style where analysis and reflection are required to understand the challenges and to provide relevant solutions to the top management of the company. Material from the academic literature about succession is offered as a resource to the reader.

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