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doi: 10.1057/jors.1984.2pmid: N/A
AbstractIt took the author 30 years to develop the Viable System Model, which sets out to explain how systems are viable-that is, capable of independent existence. He wanted to elucidate the laws of viability in order to facilitate the management task, and did so in a stream of papers and two (of his seven) books. Much misunderstanding about the V.S.M. and its use seems to exist; especially its methodological foundations have been largely forgotten, while its major results have hardly been noted. This paper reflects on the history, nature and present status of the V.S.M., without seeking once again to expound the model in detail or to demonstrate its validity. It does, however, provide a synopsis, present the methodology and confront some highly contentious issues about both the managerial and scientific paradigms.
Chapman, C. B.; Cooper, Dale F.; Cammaert, A. B.
doi: 10.1057/jors.1984.3pmid: N/A
AbstractA decision situation and model-specific O.R. method developed for reliability analysis of an Arctic liquid natural gas facility is outlined. It was developed by modifying a decision situation and model-specific O.R. method developed earlier for time (schedule or programme) risk analysis of offshore North Sea projects. The role and value of such methods is discussed in relation to general O.R. methods and specific techniques like C.P.M./PERT.
doi: 10.1057/jors.1984.4pmid: N/A
AbstractAs a result of reductions in government spending brought about for political reasons, the budgetary allocation to the University of Southampton, in common with other universities, was reduced. Some decisions had to be made on how to adapt to the new, lower level of funding. In the course of the discussion, figures were produced to justify decisions. It was shown that on closer examination those figures indicated a situation very different from the one presented by the decision makers.
doi: 10.1057/jors.1984.5pmid: N/A
AbstractIn this paper we consider the fixed routes problem, which is the problem of designing routes for delivery vehicles that can be operated unchanged for a given period of time. We show how standard vehicle routing algorithms can be adapted to deal with the daily version of this problem. Computational results are presented for these adapted algorithms for a number of test problems drawn from the literature.
doi: 10.1057/jors.1984.6pmid: N/A
AbstractThe classical p-median problem is discussed, together with methods for its solution. The multi-median problem, a generalization of the p-median problem in which more than one type of facility is allowed, is introduced and methods of solution developed. Numerical results are presented.
doi: 10.1057/jors.1984.7pmid: N/A
AbstractThis note provides simple properties of the competing risks/mixed distribution failure model of Bendell and Humble.
doi: 10.1057/jors.1984.8pmid: N/A
AbstractConcave objective functions which are both piecewise linear and separable are often encountered in a wide variety of management science problems. Provided the constraints are linear, problems of this kind are normally forced into a linear programming mould and solved using the simplex method. This paper takes another look at the associated linear programs and shows that they have special structural features which are not exploited by the simplex algorithm. It suggests that their variables can be divided into special ordered sets which can then be used to guide the pivoting strategies of the simplex algorithm with a resultant reduction in basis changes.
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