Post-production Services Research Articles

Towards inclusive mechanization? Two-wheel tractor-based service markets in Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, and Zimbabwe

PurposeAfrican agricultural mechanization could lead to a mechanization divide, where only large farms have access to machines. Technological solutions such as scale-appropriate machines and institutional solutions like service markets offer hope for more inclusive mechanization. Two-wheel tractor-based service markets combine both technological and institutional elements, but there is limited research on their economic viability and challenges.Design/methodology/approachWe analyze the economic viability of two-wheel tractor-based service provision based on data from service providers in Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, and Zimbabwe. We also examine the institutional framework conditions for such service providers based on qualitative interviews with these service providers and stakeholders such as machinery dealers, spare parts providers, and banks.FindingsTwo-wheel tractor-based service provision is economically highly viable, largely due to multifunctionality. Post-production services such as threshing and transportation are particularly lucrative. However, the emergence and economic sustainability of service providers can be undermined by bottlenecks such as access to finance, knowledge and skills development, access to fuel and spare parts, and infrastructure problems.Originality/valueThis is the first study on the economics of two-wheel tractor-based service provider models. Past studies have focused on large four-wheel tractors, but two-wheel tractors are different in many aspects, including regarding investment costs, repair and maintenance costs, capacity, and multifunctionality.

GLOBAL VALUE CHAINS AS THE MAIN INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY CREATIVE BUSINESS RELATIONSHIPS

Research into the creation and functioning of global value chains helps today's economists, business analysts, and policy makers make informed decisions to improve the global economic landscape and ensure sustainable development for all countries. The article examines the influence of global value chains on the world economy. The work uses the method of the unity of historical and logical analysis. Methods of comparative, causal and functional analysis, principles of system analysis, dialectical approach in the study of processes and phenomena are also used. The concept of the "smile curve" was analyzed to highlight the unevenness of the distribution of added value in different segments of the production chain. They point out that GVS often concentrate maximum value in research and development and post-production services. A study of the "sad smile" phenomenon highlighted that industries moving from mass production to personalization through artificial intelligence technologies may experience cost reduction in the initial and final stages of production. At the same time, companies located in the country of origin receive the greatest added value. The article focuses on the challenges that developing countries face in trying to get out of the "middle-income trap." Such challenges include tariff barriers, concentration of patents on knowledge and financing in these countries. The article argues that the GVS institute contributes to the appropriation of imperialist rent by the countries of the center at the expense of the countries of the periphery. Global chains enable the capital of the North to exploit the cheap labor of the South, keeping their incomes low and affecting their ecology. Recommendations are proposed for effective regulation and redistribution of added value to achieve sustainable global development.

New patterns in the position of CEE countries in global value chains: functional specialisation approach

Research background: High servitisation of manufacturing makes it impossible to separate services from manufactured goods properly, which implies difficulties in the assessment of the position of the country on the smile curve, i.e. in the proper assignment of products or services to one of the industrial process steps: pre-production, pure fabrication or post-production services. Therefore, we propose to use the business functions of industries identified with the aid of labour market data rather than the industrial classification of products in order to create a more appropriate measure of the position of countries in GVCs.
 Purpose of the article: We aim to identify and analyse the patterns of functional specialisation for eight Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) ? the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia ? both at the country and industry level. In addition, we analyse functional specialisation patterns for Germany, which serves as a reference country.
 Methods: To assess functional specialisation patterns, we employ the methodology proposed by Timmer et al. (2019a). It allows us to obtain functional specialisation indices for four different business functions ? management, R&D, marketing, and fabrication. To compute them, we combine two sources of data ? domestic value added from decomposed sectoral input-output tables (the World Input Output Database) and the Occupations Database built up by Timmer et al. (2019a).
 Findings & value added: Our research shows a very heterogeneous pattern in CEEC countries' position in GVCs by taking into account their functional specialisation at the countries and industries levels. Poland and Slovakia focus primarily on low value-added fabrication processes, the Baltic countries and Slovenia specialise in management services, Hungary and Latvia gain in marketing services, and the Czech Republic and Slovenia win in R&D activities. We indicate that some CEE countries (Poland, Slovakia) could be stuck in a functional trap, and our approach could be a valuable tool for assessing the process of coming out of it.

Lifecycle design and management of additive manufacturing technologies

Additive manufacturing (AM) is being proposed as a revolutionary manufacturing technology, promising significant advantages both from a design and production perspective. One challenge is the disruptive nature of AM and its impact on all life cycle phases.This paper reports from a demonstrator project highlighting digitalization and process implications. A demonstrator tool was developed able to collectively capture and visualize different life cycle implications of AM products. Market expectations, technology characteristics and life cycle constraints were met in the demonstrator tool. Each individual part collected its own traceable data set, from design over manufacturing up to postproduction services. Key aspects demonstrated were 1) the need to represent any manufacturing and life cycle constraint already in design, 2) the need to integrate unique identifiers that build a digital twin and 3) the need to automate links between life cycle engineering steps.

Update on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Production

Despite the recent attention and growth in streaming services, 10 years after the first Blu-ray discs were released to the market a new physical disc format made its debut. In early 2016, several major Hollywood studios including Sony, Warner and Fox announced plans to release their first 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray titles and manufacturers like Samsung, Philips and Panasonic announced the release of their various 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray players and HDR-enabled 4K displays. At the time of launch there were obviously high hopes by all stakeholders that this new format would perform well in the consumer market and of course, these hopes were met with plenty of skepticism. However, by the end of 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray’s launch year of 2016, according to the Blu-ray Disc Association, 20 million 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray discs were sold placing the new format at about three times the sales penetration of Blu-ray players at an equivalent time in the original launch of the format, and according to the DEG First Quarter 2017 Home Entertainment Report, there are nearly 4 million households with 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray playback devices. Currently, Sony, LG, Microsoft and Oppo have all joined the game with devices that play 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray discs and by the end of 2017 it is estimated there will be a total of 360 titles available from studios including Sony, Warner, Fox, Lionsgate, Universal and Paramount. The Studios and hardware manufacturers clearly believe that consumers are driven to embrace products that improve the home entertainment experience. So just like all previous format evolutions, the challenge was how hardware manufacturers, content owners and post production service providers could pull together and not only deliver something that works, but deliver a new and compelling consumer experience.

A Risky Business? The Role of Incentives and Runaway Production in Securing a Screen Industries Production Base in Scotland

A Risky Business? The Role of Incentives and Runaway Production in Securing a Screen Industries Production Base in Scotland

Post-production services and optimal integration strategies for the multinational firm

This paper examines firms’ decision of integrating production and post-production services to serve foreign markets. The author builds a model in which heterogeneous firms choose different locations to produce output, while employ local or send home managers from headquarters to provide post-production services. The model shows that the equilibrium decision of a firm depends on its own productivity level and the mobility of transferring home managers across borders. Using Korean firm- and affiliate-level data, empirical results show that firms choose production locations based on their productivity levels and transport costs, while firms’ choice of service managers depend on informal trade barriers across borders. These findings are consistent with the theoretical implications.

The brave new world of services-led growth

Two important trends will strongly influence growth in emerging economies: one is the increasing role of services as drivers displacing manufacturing that has hitherto been the principal engine of growth in advanced and developing economies alike; the second is the parallel rise of trade in services both directly and embodied in products. The paper shows how the competitiveness and profitability of firms is becoming closely linked to the quality and innovativeness of services, and how the bundling of services with manufactures is the key to earning high returns over the longer term. Between 25 and 40 percent of value added in manufacturing is now in the form of services with high-end manufacturing becoming increasingly services-intensive. The future therefore, seems to lie in the cultivation of product-services systems that harness the full potential of manufacturing and associated pre- and post-production services such as design, R&D, marketing, and post-sale maintenance, especially of sophisticated equipment. The policy implications for emerging economies such as Russia, India, and China are manifold; e.g. for workforce skill development; for innovation systems (the nature of innovation and the orientation of R&D); for the contribution of capital to growth in a services-centered economy; for the maximizing of productivity gains from tradable and non-tradable services, which have been productivity laggards in the past; and for the creation of a facilitating institutional environment.

Service Sector and Technological Developments

Services were neglected due to the fact that A.Smith, one of the pioneers of Economics, described services as nonproductive endeavor. After it was understood that studying services was neglected unnecessarily and this sector could play an initiator role for economic development, studies pertaining services accelerated. Recently, new theories and approaches which acquire new dimensions and concentrate on the impacts of economic and technical changes such as technological developments, complicating production structure, changing value concept and maintaining the unity of systems have been developed. One of these approaches is that technological developments improve services sector.In this study, some changes which have been caused by technological developments in service sector are analyzed in a theoretical framework. In the conclusion part, it is stated that technological developments have improved and elaborated the service sector which was neglected for a long time and as a consequence of this, constituted the postproduction service composition.

Natural gas—producers: Jurisdictions vary greatly on when natural gas becomes marketable

AbstractIn recent years, natural gas producers throughout the United States have been subjected to lawsuits by royalty and overriding royalty owners asserting that producers have underpaid them royalty by deducting from royalty payments their share of costs associated with postproduction services (i.e., gathering, dehydrating, treating/processing, and compressing gas between the wellhead and plant tailgates). Such claims are generically referenced as assertions for application of the so‐called marketable condition rule.

FDI in post-production services and product market competition

Post-production services, such as sales, distribution, and maintenance, comprise a crucial element of business activity. We explore an international duopoly model in which a foreign firm has the option of outsourcing post-production services to its domestic rival or providing those services by establishing its own facilities through FDI. We demonstrate that trade liberalization in goods may hurt domestic consumers and lower world welfare, and that the negative welfare impacts are turned into positive ones if service FDI is also liberalized. This finding yields important policy implications, given the reality that the progress of liberalization in service sectors is still limited.

FDI in Post-Production Services and Product Market Competition

Post-production services, such as sales, distribution, and maintenance, comprise a crucial element of business activity. A foreign firm faces a higher cost to perform such services than its domestic rival because of the lack of proximity to customers. We explore an international duopoly model in which a foreign firm can reduce its cost for post-production services by foreign direct investment (FDI), or alternatively can outsource such services to its domestic rival. Trade liberalization, if not accompanied by liberalization of service FDI, can hurt domestic consumers and decrease world welfare, but the negative welfare impacts can be mitigated and eventually turned into positive ones as service FDI is also liberalized. This finding yields important policy implications, given the reality that the progress of liberalization in service sectors is limited compared to the substantial progress already made in trade liberalization.

Evaluation and Correlation of Residual Stress Measurement in Steel

The stress patterns relevant for the assessment of the post production service behaviour of plain carbon hot strip mill plates were evaluated on the surface and at various depths. The hole drilling strain gage (HDSG) is a standard, well proven, semi-destructive technique and is employed for the purpose. However, this technique requires skill and is slow in operation. The magnetic Barkhausen technique (MBE) is non destructive and is still in an experimental stage, but has tremendous potential and has been tried here in steel plant environment. The objective is to establish whether MBE technique could be used as an alternative to HDSG technique. The calibration for MBE results was done under controlled compressive and tensile loading. The stress profiles were determined at six locations along rolling and transverse directions using these two techniques. The rolling stresses using HDSG method were found to be tensile near the surface, increase with depth and saturate at 0.5 to 1 mm depths. The transverse stresses were low tensile or compressive near the surface and saturate to low tensile values at similar depths. The stresses (averaged over a certain depth) by MBE are tensile in rolling direction and compressive in transverse direction. Correlation plots between residual stresses by HDSG method up to different depths and average stress by MBE show that that a good correlation exists at 0.35 mm depth. Beyond this depth, correlation is not good. It is true that for the material of the sheet and the frequency employed, the MBE results are not relevant beyond this depth. Also, the equivalent uniform stress as measured by HDSG method would deviate more and more from the actual stress as we go deeper.

Coordinating Field Experience and Externships at the Rural University

Add color and texture to upper-division course For the last quarter-century, mass media internship programs have been a popular and successful essential of broadcasting and mass communication curricula. These opportunities for experiential learning in one's major field of study outside the academy have enabled thousands of graduates leaving the academy to become much more qualified and competitive for entry-level broadcasting and mass communications positions. This article examines two topics related to the internship experience: realities and strategies related to internship coordination in the rural, isolated university setting, and the value and potential in broadcasting and mass communications curricula for a newer kind of internship hybrid, the externship. Internships in urban centers To a college or university to best serve and service mass media internships, there is perhaps no ideal community size. Small, medium and large-sized communities all have their advantages and disadvantages. Near a large urban center, with its vast supply of media production companies, broadcast stations, public relations and advertising agencies, print publications, boutique companies producing animation, providing post production services, professional sports marketing and video outlets, etc., students can choose from among many different kinds of potential internship experiences. Also, if one's university is accredited or otherwise sets limits on the amount of credits that students may earn in an internship, a student in an urban college setting could enroll in a three-credit internship and still be logistically able to fill out a full-time class schedule at his/ her alma mater. However, urban universities have some disadvantages: Since big city media companies pay their employees much more than their counterparts in small towns, a large number of media professionals working in small market may aspire to move up to larger markets some day. This means that many urban internships do not provide the student with one of the important potential advantages of an intern experience: contacts that lead to possible employment at their internship venue after graduation. Chances are always less that even a successful intern can compete for the same job with someone from Paducah, Dubuque or Duluth who has a good track record, a portfolio, a professional-looking resume tape, and a halfdozen years of experience. Also, many metropolitan media outlets are signatories to union contracts. Historically, unions are not fond of interns being used for any task that a union member could otherwise perform. At many union shops, this translates into a job description for the intern which resembles gopher duty - go for coffee, go for Danish, go deliver papers -- Watch and learn, but don't touch anything, don't create anything. Some rural advantages In contrast, internships at small stations and other media outlets near the rural college or university have some definite advantages: * More opportunities for hands-on experiences, since interns are usually allowed to use the equipment and may indeed produce products that are aired or published; * Since small-market stations and other media outlets often are non-union, there are fewer union-related restrictions; and * Since small market media often hire entry-level personnel right out of college more often than in large markets, postinternship hiring opportunities may be greater. Where unionism is less prevalent, and the intern finds him/herself working alongside entry-level employees, another profitable dynamic is at work. Often the very smallest market stations and media outlets are characterized as revolving door employers. This refers to the heavy turnover of employees after one to two years as young, usually underpaid, employees seek and obtain more lucrative jobs in larger markets and move on. When an intern working alongside such an employee finds out that a position is available, the intern can be the most logical person for a manager to tap to fill the position. …

A PRODUCIBILITY MEASURE FOR QUALITY CHARACTERISTICS WITH DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS

A product design which does not include the capabilities of the manufacturing processes required to produce the product often leads to additional redesigns due to manufacturing cost, variations in product quality, and postproduction service and support...

The Sony PCL HDVS Production Facility

Photo Chemical Laboratory (PCL) was established in 1951, in Tokyo, as a specialized developer of 16mm motion-picture film. In 1964 it was appointed the designated Fuji film-processing laboratory. In 1970 PCL entered into an affiliation with Sony Corp. The company became known as Sony PCL. Long experience in film processing, film transfers, and video production and post-production made Sony PCL eminently suitable to set up the world's first facility specializing in an integrated film and HDTV production and post-production service. Almost immediately Sony PCL was involved in transfer activities servicing the pioneering HDTV program production getting under way in Japan, Europe, and the U.S. The volume of business soon grew to a level that made it necessary to establish a totally new facility, embodying a more complete HDVS system. (HDVS — High-Definition Video System — is a Sony name and logo that refers specifically to the product line developed at Sony.) The new facility was opened in Shinagawa, Tokyo, in 1988. This article describes some of the more interesting technical aspects of this all-component video HDVS installation.