Revista Internacional de Economía y Ciencias de la Gestión

In this paper the results of a locomotive scheduling problem faced by National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) are presented. The study is in part inspired by similar optimization problems in public transports. This paper focuses on the planning version of the locomotive scheduling model (LSM), where there are multiple types of locomotives and a decision is made as to which set of locomotives is to be assigned to each train. The goal is to develop excellent plans along a number of dimensions for NRZ. An integrated model (Model 1) that determines the set of active and deadheaded locomotives for each train, and light travelling locomotives is presented. An important feature of this model is that consist-bustings are explicitly considered. Two other models namely Model 2 and Model 3 are also considered in this paper. A mixed integer programming (MIP) formulation of the problem that contains 20 integer variables and 32 constraints is given (Model 1). Using LINGO 10, a solution technique was developed to solve this problem within 2 minutes of computation time. When the solution was compared with the existing scenario at NRZ, savings of 38 locomotives were realised, which translates into savings of over ten million dollars annually.

The study sought to examine how multi-channel distribution operations affect a firm?s performance. A cross-sectional study approach was used together with the quantitative and qualitative research designs. A sample was determined scientifically from a study population of senior and junior staff engaged in sales and distribution, and distribution agents, wholesale and retail using the Krejcie and Morgan scientific table for determining sample size. Data was collected using a self administered questionnaire and analysed using statistical measures obtained using SPSS (Statistical package for social scientists). The study findings show that efficiency in distribution nodes support overall firm?s performance, multi-channel distribution management practices have an effect on the performance of a firm and that multi-channel distribution operations face a number of challenges including difficulties in multi-channel activities coordination resulting into inter-channel conflicts, and intra-channel competition threatening the firm?s pricing power.

This article provides a brief business primer to those interested in India from an investment or entrepreneurship perspective. The top 5 cities for commerce are presented, based upon their Purchasing Power Parity Gross Domestic Product (PPP GDP). Key statistics including, demographics, literacy rates and religious breakdowns are presented, as well as economic drivers for each of the top 5 commerce cities.

This article discusses micromanagement and its value to a Project Manager when the project is facing difficult circumstances and is near slipping on schedule, budget and/or scope. In an increasingly results focused operating environment, the Project Manager (PM) must be cognizant of the teams ability and progress. In normal circumstances, micromanagement is considered a poor method of management and one that does not foster long-term results. However, despite careful planning and execution, an issue can arise that has the potential to derail the entire project and hinder business case for completing the project. In such a situation when other approaches have failed, the Project Manager may find some resolution using carefully planned and conducted micromanagement.

Alternative Investment Vehicles have become increasingly common and highly controversial elements of today?s financial markets. They have faced calls for stricter regulation in recent years since they remain less regulated than traditional financial institutions and are rarely required to publish financial information. This article re-views the main characteristics and effects of Alternative Investment Vehicles as a basis to drive suitable regula-tory measures. From a regulatory perspective it is especially important to consider their function as financial intermediaries. In this role, they may impact the efficiency and stability of financial markets or the companies they invest in. While this leads to several positive effects, these come with certain risks which have to be ad-dressed with effective regulation tailored to their specific characteristics.

The objective of the paper is to assess the resilience of the banking sector in Qatar to shocks assumed to three risk types, namely, credit risk, interest rate risk and foreign exchange risk. Additionally we divide the banks in the sample into two groups by business model (i.e. 5 conventional banks, and 3 Islamic banks) and try to capture the impact of these shocks on each group of banks applying the same procedures as those followed for the whole banking sector. To achieve this we attempt to examine potential implications on the banks? capital adequacy ratio (CAR) in the case that banks have increased their provisioning to reflect loan quality deterioration, short-term interest rate has increased by 1.5% and the exchange rate of Qatari riyal against major currencies has depreciated. To this end, we apply a sensitivity stress test under which we assume that the presumed shocks to the three risk types materialize simultaneously and independently over the period from 2006 to 2010. The impact of shocks on the banking sector and the two groups of banks is expressed as post-shock capital adequacy (CAR) ratio ( tier 1 capital relative to risk-weighted assets) compared to pre-shock (baseline scenario) capital adequacy ratio. The difference between these ratios has also been disintegrated into its component of each risk type to assess the size of impact of each risk type on the capital adequacy ratio. Besides, we compare post-shock CAR with Qatar Central Bank's minimum requirement for capital adequacy ratio of 10%, and Basel II directives, which mandate a minimum capital adequacy ratio of 8 %. Finally, we estimate the capital needs for the whole banking sector and each group of banks whenever post-shock CAR ratio happen to fall below any of the two minimum ratios required. The paper reveals that the overall pool of risk for the banking sector as a whole and for the conventional banking sector has declined whereas it increased for the Islamic banking sector. It further finds that the weight of individual risk type has remained unchanged in the period under analysis. in terms of overall impact on capital adequacy ratio, while credit risk continues to have the biggest impact there hardly has been any impact resulting from an increase in short term interest rates by 1.5% or exchange rate depreciation against foreign currencies other than the US$. In addition, Islamic banks appear to be more exposed to credit risk compared to conventional banks as the impact of credit quality would have been severer on Islamic banks as compared to conventional banks. Besides, Islamic banks seem to have assumed higher credit risk post the global crisis in 2008 compared to before the crisis.

The main objective of this working paper is to trace the development of demand for Sahiwal breeding stock over the period 1971-2007. Such an analysis will enhance our understanding of what has happened on the demand side within the study period. There is only a handful of Sahiwal breeding farms existing in the country, which implies that a particular market structure exists. This paper thus traces the likely evolution of demand and provides some insights on what has happened over the period since 1971. The year 1971 was upon decided as a starting point for the simple pragmatic reason that data for earlier years may not be available. Demand indicators assembled from the records at KARI-Naivasha are used to establish the trends of demand in order to predict the likely trajectory of demand in the near future. Time series analysis of data shows the probability of demand for bulls to have been on a downward trend while for heifers, it has been increasing over time. Also critical in this result is that the probability for heifer crosses is soon catching up with demand for heifers and bulls and given these trends, this may be the animal in greatest demand. Results for average request sizes are mixed with an increase in the size of requests for bulls and heifer crosses until 1990s and a drop in the size of requests since. Some parts of the country also appear to have dropped off, notably Coast Province while others (North Eastern) are rare demand centres. A second part of the analysis, which involves the estimation of models that explain these trends, provides a framework within which the role of important demand shifting parameters such as prices, production systems and distances is determined in greater detail.

Today, the PCB are a very important social alternative because they are based upon the development of their members and the community, unlike Banks, based over the profitability; however, in Mexico they have a bad reputation because of cases reported in the last decades of abuse and fraud to its members. Fortunately, not all cases are like this, because there are 4 case studies of PCB placed at the Sierra de Amula and South Coast of Jalisco (SACSJ), which served as inspiration to give permanence and continuity to the original concept; such PCBs are Agustin de Iturbide (1955;11,232 members), Cristobal Colon (1972; 32,584 members), San Jose Casimiro (1977; 6,539 members) and Santa Maria Guadalupe (1960;17,030 members)totaling 67,385 members in December 2011. This document is intended to discover the Variables of Innovation in Services (VIS) of those PCB and relating Competitiveness to permanence, growth and retention, to allow the managers of these PCB to recognize them, and decide the actions in order to become more competitive. The methodology suggested was base on literature review and empirical query to 15 experts in PCB. 4 VIS were determined: Profile of the Leader, Decisions Mnagement, Innovation and Regulations. Each of one were characterized to determine, finally: Profile of the Leader with 3 Dimensions and 8 Indicators; Regulations with 2 Dimensions and 4 Indicators; Management Decisions with 6 Dimensions, 12 Indicators, Innovation: 1 Dimension, 4 Indicators.