http://repub.eur.nl/res/concept/jel-Q57/ Recent publications classified by JEL Code Q57 en http://repub.eur.nl/static-eur/img/logo.png http://repub.eur.nl http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/38227/ 2013-01-08T00:00:00Z In this paper, the annual maximum daily rainfall data from 1961 to 2010 are modelled for 18 stations in Taiwan. We fit the rainfall data with stationary and non-stationary generalized extreme value distributions (GEV), and estimate their future behaviour based on the best fitting model. The non-stationary model means that the parameter of location of the GEV distribution is formulated as linear and quadratic functions of time to detect temporal trends in the maximum rainfall. Future behavior refers to the return level and the return period of the extreme rainfall. The 10, 20, 50 and 100-years return levels and their 95% confidence intervals of the return levels stationary models are provided. The return period is calculated based on the record-high (ranked 1st) extreme rainfall brought by the top 10 typhoons for each station in Taiwan. The estimates show that non-stationary model with increasing trend is suitable for the Kaohsiung, Hengchun, Taitung and Dawu stations. The Kaohsing and Hengchun stations have greater trends than the other two stations, showing that the positive trend extreme rainfall in the southern region is greater than in the eastern region of Taiwan. In addition, the Keelung, Anbu, Zhuzihu, Tamsui, Yilan, Taipei, Hsinchu, Taichung, Alishan, Yushan and Tainan stations are fitted well with the Gumbel distribution, while the Sun Moon Lake, Hualien and Chenggong stations are fitted well with the GEV distribution. Chu, L.F. McAleer, M.J. Chang, C-H. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/38224/ 2012-12-31T00:00:00Z This paper has two primary purposes. First, we fit the annual maximum daily rainfall data for 6 rainfall stations, both with stationary and non-stationary generalized extreme value (GEV) distributions for the periods 1911-2010 and 1960-2010 in Taiwan, and detect the changes between the two phases for extreme rainfall. The non-stationary model means that the location parameter in the GEV distribution is a linear function of time to detect temporal trends in maximum rainfall. Second, we compute the future behavior of stationary models for the return levels of 10, 20, 50 and 100-years based on the period 1960-2010. In addition, the 95% confidence intervals of the return levels are provided. This is the first investigation to use generalized extreme value distributions to model extreme rainfall in Taiwan. Chu, L.F. McAleer, M.J. Wang, S-H. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/26892/ 2011-11-17T00:00:00Z We study the role of information systems in enabling closed-loop supply chains. Past research in green IS and closed-loop supply chains has shown that it can result in substantial cost savings and waste reduction. We complement this research by showing that the effects are more than that: using information systems can also create business value for a firm in closed-loop supply chains. We make a novel distinction between four types of value: sourcing value, environmental value, customer value and informational value. Particularly the last two types have not been recognized in past research. We then analyze 8 cases (2 for each of the 4 value types) to highlight the role that information systems play in enabling this value creation and find three key results. First, we find that IS is an essential enabler for all four value types. Second, while sourcing value and to some extent environmental value, can be created with IS that are internal to the firm, the novel types of value (customer value and informational value) can only be created with information systems that are extraorganizational, i.e. aimed at customers and supply chain partners. Third, the value created by extraorganizational systems can only be created if the appropriate intraorganizational systems are in place. Overall, our results show that substantial value can be gained from implementing green IS in closed-loop supply chains, but that collaboration between all stakeholders in the supply chain is necessary in order to reap the full value. Koppius, O.R. Ozdemir, O. Laan, E.A. van der http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/8216/ 2006-05-11T00:00:00Z Bert de Groot is Rector Magnificus and Dean of Nyenrode Business Universiteit. He is a former member of the Randstad Holding N.V Board of Directors. De Groot has held numerous leading positions on a national and international level in sectors ranging from telecommunications to the pharmaceutical industry and from life sciences to the computer sector. In addition to his position at Randstad (staffing services) he was associated with the Royal Dutch Navy, biotech and pharmaceutical company Gist Brocades N.V, Unisys Inc. (information management and computer industry), telecom multinational KPN, Boer & Croon (executive management), Pharming N.V. (life sciences), AM NV (project development), the Faculty of Economic Sciences at the Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam and the Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam Holding B.V. (commercial research). De Groot gained extensive experience in corporate recovery (at Pharming and others) and corporate delisting (at AM). He holds various supervisory board memberships. Bert de Groot studied econometrics at the Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam (EUR) and has followed management programs at IMD (previously IMI), Nyenrode, Wharton and INSEAD. De Groot was awarded his PhD by the EUR for his thesis ‘Essays on Economic Cycles’ and is member of the Econometric Institute of the Faculty of Economic Sciences at the EUR. He has a number of publications on economic cycles to his name and makes short- and long-term predictions for Randstad and the Dutch economy in general. At Nyenrode, Bert de Groot holds the chair in ‘Business and Economic Cycles’. The Research focuses on the development of the international economy and individual companies and the cyclical development that can be observed. This is done from an economic and business perspective and from a technological, institutional, social-societal and ecological perspective. Key research issues include how cyclical developments are influenced by innovation, and the decisions and actions of business leaders, entrepreneurs, managers, governments and non-governmental organizations. Insights in future developments are used to enhance scenario analysis. Bert de Groot is a member of the Nyenrode Research Group and a member of the Econometric Institute at the EUR. Groot, E.A. de http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/160/ 2002-01-29T00:00:00Z The literature on transaction costs concentrates on established firms in established markets, while the literature on industrial ecology concentrates on new firms in given markets. It is contested in the following that the picture looks differently if the analysis concentrates on establishing new firms in new markets, such as e-commerce or the new private sector in the formerly socialist economies. A new market is defined by high uncertainty. First, the general knowledge of expertise in a society is low, so that young entrepreneurs find it hard, and costly, to acquire the necessary know-how. Second, institutions, might these be the law, business practices, or intermediaries, are poor and underdeveloped. It will be argued that in China therefore entrepreneurship depends crucially on the ability to establish firms, i.e. to find organisational forms for business ventures that facilitate long-term business relations within and around a firm, that is to say, individual entrepreneurship depends on mechanisms for co-ordinating individual or organisational behaviour of firms. These mechanisms were lacking under socialist planning. The legacy of the planned economy was an environment of weak economic institutions in which state-socialist institutions uneasily coexisted with market institutions, and newness of private exchange added to uncertainty. In this environment, economic actors depended on collective action to create their own institutions, driven by the need to agree on rules of conduct in business relations and on sanctions against violation of these rules. The study will concentrate on two essential components of (private) entrepreneurship. One is the search for organisational forms conforming to the situational constraints; the other is the formation of business practices that enable individual entrepreneurship to become a viable and sustainable course of action. In other words, we will attempt to show how the transaction cost advantage of organisational forms and co-ordination mechanisms can compensate entrepreneurs for the disadvantage they face with respect to the lack of clearly defined property rights. Based on extensive fieldwork in two provinces where 100 firms were interviewed the study can show that 1. as predicted by approaches in industrial ecology both experimentation and selection were crucial in shaping the new private business sector; 2. on the individual level the performance-orientation of Chinese culture allowed entrepreneurs to combine rational decision making with tradition. Both factors can explain why for example the family in China but not in Chinese overseas communities is no longer the natural base for private firms, why networks are assessed by their expected performance, or why Chinese firm do not care about building up a core business. 1 Krug, B. Hendrischke, H.