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Spillover effects of distribution grid tariffs in the internal electricity market: An argument for harmonization?
No full textIn many countries, distribution grid tariffs are being reformed to adapt to the new realities of an electricity system with distributed energy resources. In Europe, legislative proposals have been made to harmonize these reforms across country borders. Many stakeholders have argued that distribution tariffs are a local affair, while the European institutions argued that there can be spillovers to other countries, which could justify a more harmonized approach. In this paper, we quantify these spillovers in a simplified numerical example to give insight and an order of magnitude. We look at different scenarios, and find that the spillovers can be both negative and positive. To be able to quantify these effects, we developed a long-run market equilibrium model that captures the wholesale market effects of distribution grid tariffs. The problem is formulated as a non-cooperative game involving consumers, generating companies and distribution system operators in a stylized electricity market
Forecasting spare part demand with installed base information: A review
No full textThe classical spare part demand forecasting literature studies methods for forecasting intermittent demand. However, the majority of these methods do not consider the underlying demand-generating factors. The demand for spare parts originates from the replacement of parts in the installed base of machines, either preventively or upon breakdown of the part. This information from service operations, which we refer to as installed base information, can be used to forecast the future demand for spare parts. This paper reviews the literature on the use of such installed base information for spare part demand forecasting in order to asses (1) what type of installed base information can be useful; (2) how this information can be used to derive forecasts; (3) the value of using installed base information to improve forecasting; and (4) the limits of the existing methods. This serves as motivation for future research
It’s the End of the Competition: When Social Comparison Is Not Always Motivating for Goal Achievement
No full textAbstract
Nowadays consumers can easily connect with others who are pursuing similar goals via smart devices and mobile apps. This technology also enables them to compare how well they are doing relative to others in a variety of contexts, ranging from online gaming to losing weight to loyalty programs. This research investigates consumers’ motivation to achieve a goal when they compare themselves with a superior other who has already attained the goal. Building on the literature on social comparison, and on competition in particular, we find that consumers are less motivated when the superior other has attained the goal compared to when the superior other is just ahead, keeping the relative distance equal. This negative effect on motivation is evident even in situations in which consumers can still attain the same goal as the superior other. We argue and demonstrate that this effect occurs because the other’s goal attainment limits consumers’ prospect to compete and overtake the superior other. Six experimental studies show evidence for this effect in hypothetical loyalty programs and behavioral task completion. These findings provide a deeper understanding of the motivational effect of social comparison, which have implications for marketing managers and public policy makers
Judgmental forecast adjustments over different time horizons
No full textAccurate demand forecasting is the cornerstone of a firm’s operations. The statistical system forecasts are often judgmentally adjusted by forecasters who believe their knowledge can improve the final forecasts. While empirical research on judgmental forecast adjustments has been increasing, an important aspect is under-studied: the impact of these adjustments over different time horizons. Collecting data from 8 business cases, retrieving over 307,200 forecast adjustments, this work assesses how the characteristics (e.g., size and direction) and accuracy of consecutive adjustments change over different time horizons. We find that closer to the sales point, the number of adjustments increases and adjustments become larger and more positive; and that adjustments, both close and distant from the sales point, can deteriorate the final forecast accuracy. We discuss how these insights impact operational activities, such as production planning
The impact of solution representations on heuristic net present value optimization in discrete time/cost trade-off project scheduling with multiple cash flow and payment models
No full textThe goal of this paper is to investigate the impact of different solution representations, as part of a metaheuristic approach, on net present value optimization in project scheduling. We specifically consider the discrete time/cost trade-off problem with net present value optimization and apply three payment models from literature. Each of these models determines the timing and size of cash flows from the contractor’s viewpoint. The contribution of this paper to literature is twofold. First, we include cash flow distribution variants in the payment models, to also distinguish between different manners in which value is created and costs are incurred, as part of a general model for the contractor’s cash flow management. This general model is developed in order to explicitly include the progress of activities in the determination of the timing and size of payments to the contractor, which is currently lacking in literature. Second, we employ an iterated local search framework to compare different solution representations and their corresponding local search and repair heuristics. The goal is to unambiguously show that the choice of a solution representation deserves a fair amount of attention, alongside the selection of appropriate diversification and intensification operators, even though this is not always the case in literature. Each part of the proposed algorithm is validated on a large dataset of test instances, generated to allow for a broad comparison of the solution representations. Our results clearly quantify the statistically significant differences between three types of representations for the project scheduling problem under study
Customer innovation: Delivering a customer-led strategy for sustainable growth
No full textMany organizations approach customer-centic marketing and innovating their business strategy in isolation to one another, missing groundbreaking opportunities for advancement. Customer Innovation, second edition, turns this on its head by starting with the customer, innovating around their needs, then building a customer led business strategy around it. It presents a well-constructed three-by-three formula of connect, convert, collaborate, laying the foundations for innovation and change, to improve the current customer journey and expand into new customer horizons. This enables new product and service development to flow with outstanding efficiency and substantial growth. Customer Innovation, second edition, includes exciting updates around co-creation and the benefits of involving customers, stakeholders and employees from the beginning. It provides guidance on using technology to reinvent traditional business models, with consumer needs at the heart. With a spectacular range of case studies, including Disney, LEGO and Johnson & Johnson, all delivered with active takeaways, this is the ultimate handbook for any leader, business or marketing strategist, ready to pave the way in a new era of customer led strategy
2019 M&A Monitor: Shedding light on M&A in Belgium
Get PDFAll good things must come to an end… This phrase also holds in M&A markets that have historically been characterized by a wave pattern. While the most recent global wave started around five years ago, a turning point might have been reached. The global amount spent on acquisitions increased further in 2018 to almost 2 trillion (Bain & Company Global PE report). The results of our own Belgian M&A monitor confirm that deal activity surged in 2018 but, at the same time, the surveyed experts largely expect a stabilising market in the year to come. Interestingly, some remarkable changes can be observed in motives driving Belgian M&A transactions. Whereas realising economies of scale stays the number one acquisition reason, other motives, like gaining new technologies and attracting talent (or “acqui-hires”), have increased significantly in importance over the past years. Deal drivers in private equity transactions remain constant with a buy-and-build approach as preferred value creating strategy. In addition, we observe a significant decline in the fraction of cross-border deals by Belgian acquirers from 36% to 25%. The major contribution of our yearly M&A monitor is that we present unique insights into the specific Belgian M&A setting that is particularly characterized by small and mid-market deals. While only limited information is publicly available on mid-market M&A, virtually no data is published for really small transactions. Therefore, we present a separate category of data for deals with a transaction value below €1 million for the first time. Remarkably, the surveyed professionals are much more positive on growth expectations in this segment of the market with 2 out of 3 respondents expecting a further growth in 2019. The intensified competition in the midmarket segment might indeed push strategic as well as financial buyers more and more towards smaller deals. In last year’s M&A monitor, we expressed a clear call for caution in terms of multiples paid, questioning whether the elevated acquisition prices still allow to realise returns that outweigh the risks of the transaction. For the first time in six years, however, we now observe a slight drop in EV/EBITDA multiple across all Belgian transactions from 6.7 to 6.5 (ranging from an average of 4.4 for deals smaller than €1 million to 9.7 for deals exceeding €100 million). The minor reduction in multiples is mainly driven by the smaller deal categories (below €5 million). Nevertheless, upcoming sellers should not yet panic as the majority of surveyed experts do not yet predict a significant decrease in multiples in 2019. These observations and many other typical deal, financing and process characteristics are presented and discussed in detail in the remainder of this document.BANK J.VAN BREDA & C°BDOGimvNautaDutilhSOWACCES
Zo worden overheidsinvesteringen een succes
No full textOverheden kunnen met investeringen het verschil maken voor bedrijven met groeipotentie, betogen Sophie Manigart en Thomas Standaert van Vlerick Business School. Zij ontleden vier modellen voor overheidsinvesteringen en pleiten voor een proactieve overheid met een hands-off-mentaliteit
Governance: The art of aligning interests. Liber Amicorum Lutgart Van den Berghe
No full textWhile discussing organisational problems and the solutions to them, board members frequently proceed from very different - and sometimes competing- underlying managerial assumptions. In this contribution, we will present a model that should be used by the board to proactively agree on the kind of managerial logic that is needed vis-à-vis a specific management challenge and to open the door for co-creation. Excellent organisations are characterised by the speed and the quality outcomes of their decision making processes