CAPACITY SHARING STRATEGY WITH SUSTAINABLE REVENUE-SHARING CONTRACTS

This paper develops a duopoly model to analyse capacity sharing strategy and the optimal revenue-sharing contract under a two-part tariff and examines the effects of capacity sharing, cost, and sharing charges in three scenarios. The paper uses the two-part tariff method and adds a more realistic assumption of incremental marginal costs to improve the research on capacity sharing strategies. The results show that capacity constraints affect the sustainable development of firms. A sustainable revenue-sharing contract can create a win-win situation for both firms and promote capacity sharing. Capacity sharing, cost, and the revenue-sharing rate have different impacts in different scenarios; the optimal revenue-sharing rate and fixed fee can be determined to maximise the profits of firms that share capacity. However, capacity sharing may not improve social welfare.

Profitability vs. Stability: The Choice of Trading Strategies in a Capacity Sharing Supply Chain

Supported by a third-party capacity sharing platform, manufacturers can share capacities with others to match the rapidly changing demand. Both the capacity requestor and the capacity provider can choose to seek or wait for matches, forming different trading strategies (capacity- and demand-driven strategies). Based on the game and chaos theories, this paper analyzes the preference of the capacity provider, the capacity requestor, and the capacity platform operator on different trading strategies from the aspects of profitability and stability. It finds that the platform operator values stability much more than profitability, although the latter may reach higher optimal expected profits. The preference of each supply chain member is influenced by the production cost, potential market size, and the limited capacity of the capacity requestor. A stable system can result in higher long-run profits than a profitable system. We further propose the all-win situation for the capacity provider, capacity requestor, and platform operator.

Making Localization Work: The Everyday Practice of Three NGOs in South Sudan and Northern Uganda

In humanitarian action, localization can be characterized by high hopes, many disillusions, and only limited progress. This is partly because traditional humanitarian action focuses mostly on short-term action and is supply-oriented, with decisions on the set-up and evaluation of aid activities being made by outside donors and organizations, instead of by the beneficiaries/target groups themselves. After a theoretical overview of localization and its problems, this article describes how two South Sudanese NGOs, Mary Help Association and Bishop Gassis Relief and Rescue Foundation (BGRRF), and a Ugandan NGO, Caritas Gulu, work on food security. It describes how they are implementing a 3-year program with support from Caritas Germany. The article analyzes the importance of their long-term interaction to foster trust over time through capacity development. Such capacity development includes capacity building (e.g., training, joint workshops, regular evaluations, and audits) and capacity sharing in the form of South-South cooperation. This analysis also shows that localization can be strengthened when the involved organizations agree on goals, and establish a process to reinforce their cooperation by strengthening the activities on the ground to achieve those goals. It also indicates the role of religion within capacity-development, as well as the structural problems in the context of localization that cannot easily be overcome. A conceptual model summarizes the analysis and explains the degree to which localization can be successful. Finally, the conclusions summarize the main arguments and indicate issues for further research.

Neural mechanisms underlying the temporal control of sequential saccade planning in the frontal eye field

Sequences of saccadic eye movements are instrumental in navigating our visual environment. While neural activity has been shown to ramp up to a threshold before single saccades, the neural underpinnings of multiple saccades is unknown. To understand the neural control of saccade sequences, we recorded from the frontal eye field (FEF) of macaque monkeys while they performed a sequential saccade task. We show that the concurrent planning of two saccade plans brings forth processing bottlenecks, specifically by decreasing the growth rate and increasing the threshold of saccade-related ramping activity. The rate disruption affected both saccade plans, and a computational model, wherein activity related to the two saccade plans mutually and asymmetrically inhibited each other, predicted the behavioral and neural results observed experimentally. Borrowing from models in psychology, our results demonstrate a capacity-sharing mechanism of processing bottlenecks, wherein multiple saccade plans in a sequence compete for the processing capacity by the perturbation of the saccade-related ramping activity. Finally, we show that, in contrast to movement-related neurons, visual activity in FEF neurons is not affected by the presence of multiple saccade targets, indicating that, for perceptually simple tasks, inhibition within movement-related neurons mainly instantiates capacity sharing. Taken together, we show how psychology-inspired models of capacity sharing can be mapped onto neural responses to understand the control of rapid saccade sequences.

Resource Capacity Requirement for Multi-Terminal Cooperation in Container Ports

Capacity sharing among neighboring terminals offer a means to meet increasing or unexpected demand for cargo-handling without additional capital investment. This study proposes a model for capacity requirement planning of major resources, such as quay cranes (QCs), storage space, and gate, in multiterminal port operations where demand is time dependent. A resource profile simulation is run to generate random events across the terminals and estimate the capacity requirement in the form of workload distributions on port resources over time-shifts. The effects on workload requirement, arising from multiterminal cooperation, are subsequently evaluated in consideration of different container flows among terminals. Experimental results suggest that higher transferring rate between terminals will reduce the QC intensity and storage space requirements but increase gate congestion. Variabilities in the QC intensity and storage space requirements also increase due to shorter stays and more movements in container inventory at the yard. The interaction effect between transferring and trans-shipment rates further shows that the average resource requirements for a terminal can be greatly reduced when the interterminal transferring of containers contributes positively to a more even workload redistribution across terminals. The most significant improvements occur when trans-shipment rate is 85% and transferring rate is 75% for QC intensity; trans-shipment rate is 90% and transferring rate is 60% for storage capacity; and trans-shipment rate is 80% and transferring rate is 75% for gate congestion.