Showing papers by "HEC Montréal published in 2008"

Does It Pay to Be Green? A Systematic Overview

Abstract: Executive Overview The conventional wisdom concerning environmental protection is that it comes at an additional cost imposed on firms, which may erode their global competitiveness. However, during the last decade, this paradigm has been challenged by a number of analysts (e.g., Porter & van der Linde, 1995), who have argued basically that improving a company' environmental performance can lead to better economic or financial performance, and not necessarily to an increase in cost. The aim of this paper is to review empirical evidence of improvement in both environmental and economic or financial performance. We systematically analyze the mechanism involved in each of the following channels of potential revenue increase or cost reduction owing to better environmental practices: (a) better access to certain markets; (b) differentiating products; (c) selling pollution-control technology; (d) risk management and relations with external stakeholders; (e) cost of material, energy, and services; (f) cost of cap...

NP-Hardness of Euclidean Sum-of-Squares Clustering

Abstract: A recent proof of NP-hardness of Euclidean sum-of-squares clustering, due to Drineas et al. (Mach. Learn. 56:9---33, 2004), is not valid. An alternate short proof is provided.

Gender Diversity in Corporate Governance and Top Management

Abstract: This article examines whether and how the participation of women in the firm's board of directors and senior management enhances financial performance. We use the Fama and French (1992, 1993) valuation framework to take the level of risk into consideration, when comparing firm performances, whereas previous studies used either raw stock returns or accounting ratios. Our results indicate that firms operating in complex environments do generate positive and significant abnormal returns when they have a high proportion of women officers. Although the participation of women as directors does not seem to make a difference in this regard, firms with a high proportion of women in both their management and governance systems generate enough value to keep up with normal stock-market returns. These findings tend to support the policies currently being discussed or implemented in some countries and organizations to foster the advancement of women in business.

Gender Diversity in Corporate Governance and Top Management

Abstract: This article examines whether and how the participation of women in the firm's board of direc- tors and senior management enhances financial perfor- mance. We use the Fama and French (1992, 1993) valuation framework to take the level of risk into con- sideration, when comparing firm performances, whereas previous studies used either raw stock returns or accounting ratios. Our results indicate that firms operating in complex environments do generate positive and sig- nificant abnormal returns when they have a high pro- portion of women officers. Although the participation of women as directors does not seem to make a difference in this regard, firms with a high proportion of women in both their management and governance systems generate enough value to keep up with normal stock-market returns. These findings tend to support the policies cur- rently being discussed or implemented in some countries and organizations to foster the advancement of women in business.

Variable neighbourhood search: methods and applications

Abstract: Variable neighbourhood search (VNS) is a metaheuristic, or a framework for building heuristics, based upon systematic changes of neighbourhoods both in descent phase, to find a local minimum, and in perturbation phase to emerge from the corresponding valley. It was first proposed in 1997 and has since then rapidly developed both in its methods and its applications. In the present paper, these two aspects are thoroughly reviewed and an extensive bibliography is provided. Moreover, one section is devoted to newcomers. It consists of steps for developing a heuristic for any particular problem. Those steps are common to the implementation of other metaheuristics.

Data equivalence in cross-cultural international business research: assessment and guidelines

Abstract: Data equivalence refers to the extent to which the elements of a research design have the same meaning, and can be applied in the same way, in different cultural contexts. Failure to establish data equivalence in cross-cultural studies may bias empirical results and theoretical inferences. Although several authors have encouraged researchers to ensure high levels of data equivalence, no study has assessed the status of the field in relation to compliance with data equivalence standards. Accordingly, this study examines three aspects of data equivalence (construct equivalence, measurement equivalence, and data collection equivalence) within 167 studies that involve cross-cultural data published in the Journal of International Business Studies, Management International Review, Journal of World Business, Strategic Management Journal and the Academy of Management Journal from 1995 to 2005. The findings indicate that international business researchers report insufficient information in relation to data equivalence issues, thus limiting confidence in the findings of many cross-cultural studies. To enhance future research, a guideline for procedures for researchers to follow and report in establishing data equivalence is offered.

Validity of the parametric bootstrap for goodness-of-fit testing in semiparametric models

Abstract: Pour tester qu’une loi P donnee provient d’une famille parametrique $\mathcal{P}$, on est souvent amene a comparer une estimation non parametrique An d’une fonctionnelle A de P a un element Aθn correspondant a une estimation θn de θ. Dans bien des cas, la loi asymptotique de statistiques de tests bâties a partir du processus n1/2(An−Aθn) depend de la loi inconnue P. On montre ici que si les suites An et θn d’estimateurs sont regulieres dans un sens precis, le recours au reechantillonnage parametrique conduit a des approximations valides des seuils des tests. Autrement dit si An* et θn* sont des analogues de An et θn deduits d’un echantillon de loi Pθn, les processus empiriques n1/2(An−Aθn) et n1/2(An*−Aθn*) convergent alors conjointement en loi vers des copies independantes de la meme limite. Ce resultat est employe pour valider l’approche par reechantillonnage parametrique dans le cadre de tests d’adequation pour des familles de lois et de copules multivariees. Deux types de tests sont envisages : les uns comparent la version empirique d’une loi ou d’une copule et son estimation parametrique sous l’hypothese nulle ; les autres mesurent la distance entre les estimations parametrique et non parametrique de la loi associee a la transformation integrale de probabilite classique. La validite du reechantillonnage a deux degres est aussi demontree dans les cas ou l’estimation parametrique est difficile a calculer. La methodologie est illustree au moyen d’un nouveau test d’adequation de copules fonde sur une fonctionnelle de Cramer–von Mises du processus de copule empirique.

Horizontal cooperation among freight carriers: request allocation and profit sharing

Abstract: In modern transportation systems, the potential for further decreasing the costs of fulfilling customer requests is severely limited while market competition is constantly reducing revenues. However, increased competitiveness through cost reductions can be achieved if freight carriers cooperate in order to balance their request portfolios. Participation in such coalitions can benefit the entire coalition, as well as each participant individually, thus reinforcing the market position of the partners. The work presented in this paper uniquely combines features of routing and scheduling problems and of cooperative game theory. In the first part, the profit margins resulting from horizontal cooperation among freight carriers are analysed. It is assumed that the structure of customer requests corresponds to that of a pickup and delivery problem with time windows for each freight carrier. In the second part, the possibilities of sharing these profit margins fairly among the partners are discussed. The Shapley value can be used to determine a fair allocation. Numerical results for real-life and artificial instances are presented.

Antecedents, moderators and dimensions of country‐of‐origin evaluations

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an in‐depth examination of country‐of‐origin (COO) perceptions of consumers in a multinational setting. It shows how explanatory factors like demographics, familiarity with a country's products, purchase behaviour and psychological variables jointly work to explain consumers' COO perceptions.Design/methodology/approach – This is a quantitative study using a drop‐off and pick‐up survey among three samples of consumers in Canada, Morocco and Taiwan. The final sample size was comprised of 506 male consumers. The data were analyzed using factor analysis to group countries of origin and analyses of variance to relate COO perceptions to the explanatory variables.Findings – The familiarity with products made in a country was the strongest predictor of country perceptions, followed by nationality and the manufacturing process and product complexity dimensions of country evaluation. Canadians had the highest propensity to distinguish between countries of origin on ...

Functional foods: a conceptual definition

Abstract: Purpose – To draw the frontiers of the functional food universe, to identify concepts that should be included in a broadly accepted functional food definition and to propose a definition.Design/methodology/approach – Based on a review of the literature and the Delphi technique with a group of North American and European experts.Findings – Four concepts were identified: the nature of food, health benefits, functions and regular consumption. Two dimensions, physiological effects and functional intensity, were developed to define the frontiers of the functional food universe and a definition is suggested.Practical implications – A large number of definitions as well as great variations within definitions make it difficult to provide industry partners with robust information on market trends and market potential, or to appropriately protect consumers through legislation. This paper should contribute to the debate surrounding the type of food that should be considered a functional food and surrounding the lack...

A three-perspective model of culture, information systems, and their development and use

Abstract: Culture plays an increasingly important role in information systems initiatives, and it receives considerable attention from researchers who have studied a variety of aspects of its role in IS initiatives. Notwithstanding the contributions of research to date, our knowledge of how culture influences-and is influenced by-the development and use processes and an information system itself remains fragmented. Knowledge fragmentation is amplified by the fact that conceptualizations of culture differ among researchers. Indeed, most researchers agree that culture consists of patterns of meaning underlying a variety of manifestations. Researchers diverge, however, on the degree of consensus on these interpretations that they assume to be reached within a collective. In order to integrate these divergent conceptualizations of culture, we adopt the view that no single perspective is sufficient to capture the complexity of interplay between culture, the processes of developing and using an IS, and the IS itself. We have, therefore, adopted a conceptualization that views culture from three perspectives-integration, differentiation, and fragmentation-that come into play simultaneously and jointly. Using this conceptualization, the paper synthesizes what is known about the role of culture in IS initiatives, and proposes a model of the relationships between culture, the development and use processes, and an information system.

A Tabu search heuristic for the vehicle routing problem with two-dimensional loading constraints

Abstract: This article addresses the well-known Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem (CVRP), in the special case where the demand of a customer consists of a certain number of two-dimensional weighted items. The problem calls for the minimization of the cost of transportation needed for the delivery of the goods demanded by the customers, and carried out by a fleet of vehicles based at a central depot. In order to accommodate all items on the vehicles, a feasibility check of the two-dimensional packing (2L) must be executed on each vehicle. The overall problem, denoted as 2L-CVRP, is NP-hard and particularly difficult to solve in practice. We propose a Tabu Search algorithm, in which the loading component of the problem is solved through heuristics, lower bounds, and a truncated branch-and-bound procedure. The effectiveness of the algorithm is demonstrated through extensive computational experiments. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. NETWORKS, 2008

The Integrated Production and Transportation Scheduling Problem for a Product with a Short Lifespan

Abstract: The integrated production and transportation scheduling problem (PTSP) with capacity constraints is common in many industries. An optimal solution to PTSP requires one to simultaneously solve the production scheduling and the transportation routing problems, which requires excessive computational time, even for relatively small problems. In this study, we consider a variation of PTSP that involves a short shelf life product; hence, there is no inventory of the product in process. Once a lot of the product is produced, it must be transported with nonnegligible transportation time directly to various customer sites within its limited lifespan. The objective is to determine the minimum time required to complete producing and delivering the product to meet the demand of a given set of customers over a wide geographic region. This problem is NP-hard in the strong sense. We analyze the properties of this problem, develop lower bounds on the optimal solution, and propose a two-phase heuristic based on the analysis. The first phase uses either a genetic or a memetic algorithm to select a locally optimal permutation of the given set of customers; the second phase partitions the customer sequence and then uses the Gilmore-Gomory algorithm to order the subsequences of customers to form the integrated schedule. Empirical observations on the performance of this heuristic are reported.

The impact of language and culture on perceived website usability

Abstract: Online retailers offering their products across national and cultural borders are eager to enhance the usability of their websites to attract large numbers of visitors. The results of the present research show that the perceived usability increases when the website was originally conceived in the native language of the user. Thus, translation, even though of excellent quality, creates a cultural distance which impacts on the web users' evaluation of the site. Conversely, where language is less important, such as in the evaluation of the quality of an offer, a consumer's native language has no impact on the buying decision.

The early explanatory power of NDVI in crop yield modelling

Abstract: The objective of this paper is to study, on a weekly basis, the explanatory power of one satellite-based measurement, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), for wheat yield modelling in 40 census agricultural regions (CAR) in the Canadian Prairies during the whole growing season using 16 years of NOAA AVHRR satellite data (between 1987 and 2002). We also explore the relative value of NDVI compared with a land-based measurement, the Cumulative Moisture Index (CMI). By developing a series of weekly wheat yield models over the course of the growing season, we are able to determine the accuracy of different models. Our findings indicate that NDVI possesses explanatory power 4 weeks earlier in the season than CMI.

Predicting opponent's moves in electronic negotiations using neural networks

Abstract: Electronic negotiation experiments provide a rich source of information about relationships between the negotiators, their individual actions, and the negotiation dynamics. This information can be effectively utilized by intelligent agents equipped with adaptive capabilities to learn from past negotiations and assist in selecting appropriate negotiation tactics. This paper presents an approach to modeling the negotiation process in a time-series fashion using artificial neural network. In essence, the network uses information about past offers and the current proposed offer to simulate expected counter-offers. On the basis of the model's prediction, ''what-if'' analysis of counter-offers can be done with the purpose of optimizing the current offer. The neural network has been trained using the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm with Bayesian Regularization. The simulation of the predictive model on a testing set has very good and highly significant performance. The findings suggest that machine learning techniques may find useful applications in the context of electronic negotiations. These techniques can be effectively incorporated in an intelligent agent that can sense the environment and assist negotiators by providing predictive information, and possibly automating some negotiation steps.

An exact algorithm for the petrol station replenishment problem

Abstract: In the petrol station replenishment problem (PSRP), the aim is to deliver petroleum products to petrol stations by means of an unlimited heterogeneous fleet of compartmented tank trucks. The problem consists of jointly determining quantities to deliver within a given interval, of allocating products to tank truck compartments and of designing delivery routes to stations. This article describes an exact algorithm which decomposes the PSRP into a truck loading problem and a routing problem. An algorithm which makes use of assignment, optimality tests and possibly standard ILP algorithm is proposed to solve the loading problem. The routing problem is handled using two different strategies, based either on a matching approach or on a column generation scheme. This algorithm was extensively tested on randomly generated data and on a real-life case arising in Eastern Quebec.

Recent Models and Algorithms for One-to-One Pickup and Delivery Problems

Abstract: In one-to-onePickup and Delivery Problems (PDPs), the aim is to design a set of least cost vehicle routes starting and ending at a common depot in order to satisfy a set of pickup and delivery requests between location pairs, subject to side constraints. Each request originates at one location and is destined for one other location. These requests apply to the transportation of goods or people, in which case the problem is often called the dial-a-ride problem. In recent years, there have been several significant developments in the area of exact and heuristic algorithms for PDPs. The purpose of this chapter is to report on these developments. It contains two main sections devoted to single vehicle and multi-vehicle problems, respectively. Each section is subdivided into two parts, one on exact algorithms and one on heuristics.