Risk allocation, supplier development and product innovation in automotive supply chains: a study of Nissan Europe

As new technologies and globalization change the vertical contracting structure of the auto industry, risk allocation in OEM-supplier relationships remain critical to ensure innovation and competitiveness. Developing previous, agency theory based research on the levels and the determinants of risk sharing, this study of Nissan Europe’s supply chain shows that the OEM absorbs more risk (a) the greater the supplier’s environmental uncertainty, (b) the more risk averse the supplier, and (c) the less severe the supplier’s moral hazard. The study also shows that Nissan, though still absorbing risk from their suppliers to a nonnegligible degree, has moved to a more market-based approach to supplier selection and development as a consequence of technological change, the industry globalization and the merger with Renault

Texas STATEMAP Program Summary, FY22 (2022–2023)

Nine geologic maps have been completed at a 1:24,000 scale in four project areas with support from STATEMAP and the Bureau of Economic Geology's State of Texas Advanced Resource Recovery program (STARR). Four of these maps were on the Texas Coastal Plain, including one (Anahuac quadrangle) on the upper Texas Coastal Plain in the Galveston Bay area and three (Rockport, Tivoli SE, and Tivoli SW quadrangles) on the middle Texas Coastal Plain in the Aransas, Copano, and San Antonio Bay areas. These maps continue efforts to: 1. Better understand the evolution of the coastal plain in response to sea-level change associated with numerous Quaternary glacial and interglacial cycles. 2. Develop more effective methods to map low-relief coastal deposits using high-resolution topographic maps produced from airborne lidar data and near-surface geophysical methods. High-resolution topography and geophysical methods both aid in the identification of stratal units and their distribution in areas where exposures are poor or nonexistent. Groundwater- and mineral-resource-related mapping produced three maps (Dolan Springs, Monument Mountain SE, and Panther Creek quadrangles) to extend recent mapping of critical groundwater- and mineral-resource areas in central and west Texas. These maps help ensure sustainable development of resources and protection of habitat of threatened species. The detailed maps contribute to a better understanding of the hydrogeologic framework of the areas and help evaluate resource potential. Mapping in the central Texas urban growth corridor produced one map (Montopolis quadrangle) that extends previous mapping in this critical urban growth and transportation corridor. This map addresses the ongoing need for planning and managing groundwater, surface water, land use, and construction projects where rapid population growth and suburban development have caused an increased demand for water and earth resources. Mapping related to critical mineral resources augmented Earth MRI-sponsored projects in Trans-Pecos with the completion of a 1:24,000-scale map of the Small quadrangle, located in the alkaline igneous belt. Mapping in this area assists in mineral resource exploration, critical mineral identification, and resource development potential. Major additional STATEMAP tasks included those related to the U.S. GeoFramework Initiative. Activities and deliverables completed in this category included: 1. A statewide map (1:1,000,000 scale) and GeMS database showing distribution and elevation of significant subsurface salt deposits in the East Texas Basin, the Coastal Plain, and the Permian Basin. 2. Three compilation maps (1:50,000 or 1:62,500 scale) and GeMS databases of portions of the upper Texas Coastal Plain (5 quadrangles), the middle Texas Coastal Plain in the Matagorda Bay area (8 quadrangles), and the southeast Llano Uplift area in central Texas (6 quadrangles). 3. Updates to the NGMDB that include corrections of current entries, addition of 40 missing entries in the Geological Circular series, and delivery of high-resolution map images and supporting documents for 253 Bureau publications. 4. Producing an initial inventory of figures from Bureau publications, with the goal of identifying and tagging figures that are amenable to three-dimensional mapping, resulting in the creation of an SQLite database containing entries and images from most of the Bureau's Reports of Investigations and the Oil and Gas Atlas.Bureau of Economic Geolog

Servitization by sector and manufacturers' operational departments: Lessons learned

This concluding chapter summarises the previous chapters by focussing on two questions: (1) Can sector-specific environments explain differences in servitization by sector? (2) What dependencies affect the adaptation of manufacturers' operational departments to servitization? Juxtaposing the findings from the sector chapters suggests that manufacturers in sectors that are shocked by radical innovations in physical products, that serve markets with an oligopolistic customer structure and that have acquired superior knowledge in applying their own products are more likely to change their business models towards offering advanced services. In addition to the ratio of the installed base to annual sales, these three aspects have proved to be relevant for adopting servitization strategies. As the results presented in the departmental chapters indicate, mutual dependencies exist among the various decisions involved in adapting manufacturers' capabilities, processes and structures to servitized business models. Accounting practices, procurement and supplier relationships, research and development, human resource management and - first and foremost -the competitive strategies of manufacturers must be reshaped simultaneously. This final chapter concludes with a discussion of possible future trends regarding servitization in manufacturing industries

Incomplete Contracts and Competition. Another look at Fisher Body/General Motors?

In this paper we analyze the problem of the enforcement of incomplete contracts with endogenous outside options. Some of the equilibria we outline may reverse one of the main results presented in the standard literature. We then revisit the literature on the highly debated Fisher Body/General Motors merger and suggest an explanation based on GM’s need to control the Fisher brothers’ outside options