Browsing by Subject "Production functions (Economic theory)."

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4

Open Access
Facility location, capacity acquisition and technology selection models for manufacturing strategy planning
(1993) Verter, Vedat
The primary aim of this dissertation research is to contribute to the manufacturing strategy planning process. The firm is perceived as a value chain which can be represented by a production-distribution network. Structural decisions regarding the value chain of a firm are the means to implement the firm’s manufacturing strategy. Thus, development of analytical methods to aid the design of production-distribution sytems constitutes the essence of this study. The differentiating features of the manufacturing strategy planning process within the multinational companies are especially taken into account due to the significance of the globalization in product, factor, and capital markets. A review of the state-of-the-art in production-distribution system design reveals that although the evaluation of strategy alternatives received much attention, the existing analytical methods are lacking the capability to produce manufacturing strategy options. Further, it is shown that the facility location, capacity acquisition, and technology selection decisions have been dealt with separately in the literature. Whereas, the interdependencies among these structural decisions are pronounced within the international context, and hence global manufacturing strategy planning requires their simultaneous optimization. Thus, an analytical method is developed for the integration of the facility location and sizing decisions in producing a single commodity. Then, presence of product-dedicated technology alternatives in acquiring the required production capacity at each facility is incorporated. The analytical method is further extended to the multicommodity problem where product- flexible technology is also available as a technology alternative. Not only the arising models facilitate analysis of the trade-offs associated with the scale and scope economies in capacity/technology acquisition on the basis of alternative facility locations, but they also provide valuable insights regarding the presence of some dominance properties in manufacturing strategy design.
Open Access
Measuring technical efficiency differentials of cotton farmers in Pakistan
(2000) Aguir, Sabeur
This thesis examines the technical efficiency differentials of production of cotton farmers in the two provinces, Sind and Punjab, of Pakistan. Both parametric and semi-parametric stochastic frontier models were u.sed to inve.stigate the relationships that might exist between the farm size, the educational background, the ownership status and farmers' efficiency. The results of both of the models show that farm size plays an important role in measuring the efficiency of farmers. Increasing farm size in Punjab decreases inefficiency whereas farms should be smaller in Sind to be more effective. Education was found to decrease inefficiency in Punjab whereas it is counterproductive in Sind. Owneroperated farms of Punjab are more efficient. The results of this thesis warrants need for major structural reforms in order to increase productivity in the agriculture sector of Pakistan.
Open Access
Multifacility location with imprecise data
(1994) Demir, Muhittin Hakan
Locational decisions often suffer from lack of precise data. In this study, we consider a class of multifacility location problems where the demands of existing and new facilities are unknown, with a known set of possible realizations. The set may be finite or infinite. In the latter case, the data is assumed to be of interval type. We use various criteria to evaluate candidate solutions to these problems and build a framework for decision making.
Open Access
Real money balances in production function: a translog profit function approach
(1998) İlerisoy, Mahmut
This thesis examines the role of real money balances in production function as a factor. A transcendental logarithmic (translog) profit function is estimated with share equations for disaggregated 2 digit Canadian manufacturing industries which are clothing, food, furniture, and wood industries using Zellner’s seemingly unrelated algorithm in the TSP computer programme. Both long-run and short-run profit maximizing elasticities are computed. Based upon the results of price elasticities, we have evidence for a significant role o f real money balances in production function as a factor both in long-run and short-run. Another interesting result that emerges from our study is the significance of the potential supply side effects of changes in the interest rate on both labor demand and supply o f output.