Indian Institute of Management Calcutta

About: Indian Institute of Management Calcutta is a education organization based out in Kolkata, India. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Supply chain & Context (language use). The organization has 415 authors who have published 1354 publications receiving 21725 citations. The organization is also known as: IIMC & IIM Calcutta.

Medical Requirements During a Natural Disaster: A Case Study on WhatsApp Chats Among Medical Personnel During the 2015 Nepal Earthquake.

Abstract: Objective The objective of this study was to explore a log of WhatsApp messages exchanged among members of the health care group Doctors For You (DFY) while they were providing medical relief in the aftermath of the Nepal earthquake in April 2015. Our motivation was to identify medical resource requirements during a disaster in order to help government agencies and other responding organizations to be better prepared in any upcoming disaster. Methods A large set of WhatsApp (WhatsApp Inc, Mountain View, CA) messages exchanged among DFY members during the Nepal earthquake was collected and analyzed to identify the medical resource requirements during different phases of relief operations. Results The study revealed detailed phase-wise requirements for various types of medical resources, including medicines, medical equipment, and medical personnel. The data also reflected some of the problems faced by the medical relief workers in the earthquake-affected region. Conclusions The insights from this study may help not only the Nepalese government, but also authorities in other earthquake-prone regions of the world to better prepare for similar disasters in the future. Moreover, real-time analysis of such online data during a disaster would aid decision-makers in dynamically formulating resource-mapping strategies. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2017;11:652–655).

Designing information feedback for bidders in multi-item multi-unit combinatorial auctions

Abstract: Combinatorial auctions (CAs) promote allocative efficiency and are important market mechanisms for a wide variety of specialized domains where bidders are allowed to place bids on packages of items. However, the adoption of combinatorial auctions in real-life business scenarios has been fairly limited, perhaps because bidders find it difficult to construct their bids without extensive knowledge of the current state of the auction. In this paper, we develop decision support tools for bidders to provide information feedback at runtime for the general class of combinatorial auctions namely, online (continuous) multi-item multi-unit combinatorial auctions (MUCAs), an area that has witnessed a rapid growth of interest in recent years. In online MUCAs the number of packages may be large, and bidders need real time decision support to construct their bids, such as information on the ask prices of packages. The deadness level of a package serves as the ask price, and indicates the minimum bid on the package that keeps it in contention for inclusion in winning combinations in future. It has proved a challenge to find a satisfactory method for computing the deadness levels of packages in MUCAs. Here we present exact methods for determining package deadness levels in such auctions. Both the OR and the XOR formulations are considered. Experiments on simulated data as well as on live data show that the time and memory requirements are not excessive, so it appears possible to adopt the methods for the procurement and sale of commodities in B2B and B2C markets.

Data envelopment analysis in hierarchical category structure with fuzzy boundaries

Abstract: Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is used for the performance evaluation of a set of decision making units (DMUs). Such performance scores are necessary for taking managerial decisions like allocation of resources, improvement plans for the poor performers, and maintaining high efficiency of the leaders. In classical DEA, it is assumed that the DMUs are operating in a similar environment. But in practice, this assumption is normally broken as DMUs operate in a varied environment due to several uncontrollable factors like socio-economic differences, competitiveness in the region and location. In order to address this issue, categorical DEA was proposed for the construction of peer groups by creating crisp categories based on the level of competitiveness. However, such categorizations suffer from indeterminate factors, for example, human judgment and biases, linguistic ambiguity and vagueness. In this paper, we propose a more realistic DEA approach which is capable of handling categories defined in natural languages or with vague boundaries and generates efficiency as triangular fuzzy number. The analysis indicates that if a higher degree of fuzziness is allowed while defining the boundaries of the reference set, it results in (1) a compromise with the accuracy, signified by the spread of the fuzzy efficiency, (2) degradation of the quality, signified by the centre of the fuzzy efficiency, of the decision. Finally, the applicability of this approach has been demonstrated using public library data for different regions in Tokyo city. The sensitivity of the optimal decisions to the changes in fuzzy parameters has also been investigated.

Evaluating the profession and professionalism of business managers: control embedded in character

Abstract: Amidst growing claims very recently by several distinguished scholars that business management should be considered as a true profession, we evaluate its professional status from a sociological analysis of the profession. We argue that whether it is a profession or not, the managers need to demonstrate professionalism. We understand the notion and meaning of professionalism and its importance for professions and non-professional occupations. In course of evaluating and discussing professionalism by Evetts, as embodiment of elements of both occupational value and ideology, as controlling the organization of work of business managers, we argue that professionalism of business managers is best understood when the ‘notion of control’ is embedded in the very idea of ‘character’.