Univ., Diss.--Göttingen, 2002.

Zugl.: Berlin, Humboldt-Universiẗat, Diss., 2004.

Commodity trading at both domestic and international levels involves many sources of supply chain risk and uncertainty. Risk management techniques are utilized by industry participants; however, there are unknown risks that can arise throughout the supply chain making effective risk management a difficult task. This study aims to address supply chain risk in soybean exports. A framework is created for a competitive bidding environment in which firms participate in an international import tender. Monte Carlo simulation is used to represent stochastic variables and derive an optimal bid under various scenarios. Sensitivity analysis is then conducted to measure the impact of key input variables on the output values. An alternative specification for risk management is also implemented into the framework. This study provides insight into supply chain uncertainty and incorporates that into a competitive bidding framework for optimal bid derivation and effective risk management.

The last one hundred years of American literature have witnessed the development of three elemental movements: naturalism, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, represented by such authors as Stephen Crane and Theodore Dreiser; nihilism, predominant in the 1920's and 1930's, represented best by Ernest Hemmingway; and the post-World War II literature which will be called literature of the quest, represented by such authors as Saul Bellow, William Styron, Philip Roth, John Updike, and others. The first chapter will show briefly the historical development of these three movements in American literature, their distinctive features, and their relationship to American moral and social values. Chapters Two through Four will analyze in detail the three distinctive aspects of this emerging literary form--the literature of the quest. The last chapter will focus on one novel, Letting Go, by Philip Roth, as an example of this literature.

Este projeto de mestrado objetiva trazer aos responsáveis pelas áreas de aquisição das Instituições Federais de Ensino Superior (IFES), principalmente às da Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná (UTFPR), esclarecimento a respeito da atual legislação aplicada ás licitações, bem como a proposição aos seus Administradores de modelos para os processos de licitação, a fim de padronizá-los, trazendo melhorias em seu desenvolvimento, reduzindo custos e eliminando retrabalho. O método adotado nesta pesquisa foi o estudo de caso, que envolve estudo profundo e exaustivo de um determinado tema, de modo a permitir conhecê-lo de forma ampla. O estudo também foi fundamentado na pesquisa documental dos processos licitatórios elaborados pela Reitoria da UTFPR, de 2010 a abril de 2012, nas notas técnicas emitidas pela Procuradoria Jurídica da UTFPR (PROJU) e nas constatações colhidas no portal da Controladoria Geral da União (CGU). De posse das informações, optou-se, como instrumento de coleta de dados, a elaboração de um questionário, que foi respondido por servidores da UTFPR atuantes nas áreas de licitação, da Auditoria Interna e da Procuradoria Jurídica. Como resultado da pesquisa foi apresentado a legislação e os procedimentos para a realização de uma licitação, bem como os modelos, com os requisitos e fases da licitação, para as modalidades de Concorrência Pública, Tomada de Preços, Convite, Cotação Eletrônica, Inexigibilidade, Dispensa, Pregão Eletrônico e Ata de Registro de Preços. / This master's project aims to bring those responsible for the areas of acquisition of Federal Institutions of Higher Education (IFES), especially at the Federal Technological University of Paraná (UTFPR) clarification regarding the current legislation witch ace bids, as well as the proposition their administrators bidding process models in order to standardize them, bringing improvements in their development, reducing costs and eliminating rework. The method adopted in this scientific research was the case study, which involves deep and thorough study of a particular topic, to enable it to meet broadly. The study was also based on desk research of bidding process developed by the Rectory of UTFPR the years 2010 to April 2012, in the technical notes issued by the Legal Department of UTFPR (PROJU), and the findings taken from the portal of the Comptroller General's Office (CGU). As a result of the research were presented legislation and procedures for conducting a bidding, and models, with the requirements and stages of bidding for the modalities of Competitive Bidding, Socket Pricing, Announcement, Electronic Quotation, Unenforceability, Utility , Electronic Trading and Price Registry Act.

by Asano Masashi. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 97-98). / ABSTRACT --- p.ii / TABLE OFCONTENTS --- p.iii / LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS --- p.iv / LIST OF TABLES --- p.v / ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS --- p.vi / Chapter / Chapter I. --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter II. --- METHODOLOGY --- p.7 / Chapter III. --- PROFIT MARGIN ANALYSIS --- p.22 / Chapter IV. --- SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS --- p.39 / Chapter V. --- COST ESTIMATE ANALYSIS --- p.48 / Chapter VI. --- INDUSTRY PROFITABILITY ANALYSIS --- p.76 / Chapter VII. --- CONCLUSION --- p.87 / APPENDIXES --- p.89 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.97

published_or_final_version / Real Estate and Construction / Master / Master of Science in Construction Project Management

The objective of this bachelor thesis was to examine and analyse the psychological factors that were important in mediation processes on local, regional, national and international levels in Ethiopia. The research questions were what these psychological factors were and how they affected the mediation process. A qualitative, semi-structured method was used and six informants with experience as mediators have been interviewed in Ethiopia. The psychological factors identified were self-esteem, losing face, ability of letting go, and mirroring. The conclusion was that this research confirmed the findings of much of the previous research, in regards to the psychological factors active in the process. The research also revealed that the psychological factors needed to be considered in the light of the Ethiopian culture and it´s collective nature.

Thesis. 1975. M.S.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Civil Engineering. / Bibliography: leaves 114-116. / by Elias Nicolas Hani and Yves Lesage. / M.S.

The construction industry is a complex, multi-level system that includes a large collection of independent, heterogeneous organizations and institutions and is associated with several economic sectors and markets. Because of its unique characteristics, the construction industry as one of the major economic sectors and contributors to the economic development of the nation needs its own specific and dedicated economics. The shortcomings of the existing methodologies call for the use of more sophisticated modeling tools that can capture more important aspects of the real world and its complexity in particular the interconnections among elements of the system, their idiosyncrasies, and emergent behavior. As a pioneer attempt in the exploration of a new theory of construction economics, this study aims to found the first building blocks of the comprehensive economic model of the construction industry. In this dissertation, an agent-based approach is applied to model the low-bid lump-sum construction competitive bidding by which most construction works are allocated. This model has several advantages over the previous analytical and empirical models including the capability of observing the bidding process dynamics, the interaction between the heterogeneous and learning agents, and the emergent bidding patterns arising from multiple scenarios of market conditions and contractors’ attributes. Then the model is used as a virtual laboratory for conducting a variety of experiments to answer several important research questions in the field of construction economics. The main research objectives of this study are to: (1) analyze the effectiveness of major quantitative methods in the bidding environment under a variety of market conditions (2) study the effect of contractors’ risk behavior, cost estimating and project management skills, and complexity of projects on contractors’ choice of optimal markup, long-term financial growth and market share (3) investigate the impact of risk behavior and need for work on contractors’ performance. The results presented in this dissertation offer new understandings and insights on the construction bidding environment and recommendations for both owners and contractors’ competitive success, which are not available using conventional approaches. In particular, results suggest that (1) using Friedman model can result in considerably higher market share whereas using Gates model can result in higher profit per project, (2) the optimal policy for contractors is moderation in both dimensions of risk attitude and need for work, (3) the comparative performance of slightly and extremely risk averse contractors are depending on level of cost estimating accuracy and project execution skills of contractors as well as the level of project complexities.