Many people believe that we are now in a period of business changes as significant as those in the industrial revolution. This presentation suggested some provocative ideas about what some of these changes will be. For example, the talk described the possibilities of an “e-lance economy” where electronically connected free-lancers, joining together in temporary teams, will perform many of the t...

Abstract—The plastic industry plays very important role in the economy of any country. It is generally among the leading share of the economy of the country. Since metals and their alloys are very rarely available on the earth. Therefore, to produce plastic products and components, which finds application in many industrial as well as household consumer products is beneficial. Since 50% plastic...

Innovations in services continue to be a vital topic. Compared to product innovation, service innovation has received less attention in the literature. Studying service innovation is as important as ever especially since the world economy is shifting from a manufacturing economy to a service economy. Analytical and detailed discussion about service innovations is only beginning. This study aims...

Most agribusiness firms are small. Regardless of the measurements or standards employed, this assertion remains valid. It is perhaps, the natural end product of our free enterprise economy, where entrepreneurial spirit remains more pervasive than the economies of size. Or perhaps this characterization of the agribusiness industry is linked inseparably to the very atomistic nature of our total a...

The Theil index is much used in economy and finance; it looks like the Shannon entropy, but pertains to event values rather than to their probabilities. Any time series can be remapped through the Theil index. Correlation coefficients can be evaluated between the new time series, thereby allowing to study their mutual statistical distance, to be contrasted to the usual correlation distance meas...

Abstract A transformation network describes how one set of resources can be transformed into another via technological processes. Transformation networks in economics are useful because they can highlight areas for future innovations, both in terms of new products, new production techniques, or better efficiency. They also make it easy to detect areas where an economy might be fragile. In this ...

This paper reports how three UK “old economy” manufacturers are adapting their operations to meet the challenge of the “new economy”, in which it is claimed that dotcoms can deliver virtual products to cybercustomers at the speed of light. Successful manufacturing is not only about producing better goods than competitors but also about delivering a product/service package that solves customers’...

Open Source Software (OSS) is widely used as it offers several advantages such as cost saving, security and ability to modify the source code, which encourages companies to adopt it [1]. Morocco like many countries has been hit by the global crisis that affected its economy; several companies of different sizes have closed and employees were left without a fixed workplace. The objective of this...

The paper analyses how the area of production and operations management (POM) in Brazil should change/adapt in order to remain relevant in the so called “new economy”. Drawing from insights coming from both the relevant literature and a survey, a preliminary research and teaching agenda is proposed.