Coordination as showcasing: the establishment of Norway’s Afghanistan Forum

In complex operations such as the interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan, where multiple government ministries are involved in putting together a state’s contributions, the use of national-level coordination bodies has become more widespread. Research has taken for granted that the rationale behind these bodies reflects their declared aim – enhanced coordination as a means to improve mission effectiveness. However, they appear to have had modest effect on coordination. That notwithstanding, they seem to remain popular. This prompts us to ask why such bodies are actually established. This article – based on in-depth interviews and archival records – critically explores the establishment of Norway’s ad hoc, inter-ministerial, political-level Afghanistan Forum. Distinguishing between a structural-instrumental, a cultural-institutional and an environmental perspective from organizational theory to structure the analysis, this article shows that the declared purpose of the forum, inter-ministerial coordination, proved less important than showcasing coordination efforts and keeping the coalition together. In addition, national traditions in handling coordination challenges in the central government apparatus and powerful international reforms helped bring the forum about. This has implications for research on the rationale and effectiveness of these bodies, and also for understanding their policy relevance.     

Contracts and coordination: Supply chains with uncertain demand and supply

Considering a supply chain with a supplier subject to yield uncertainty selling to a retailer facing stochastic demand, we find that commonly studied classical coordination contracts fail to coordinate both the supplier's production and the retailer's procurement decisions and achieve efficient performance. First, we study the vendor managed inventory (VMI) partnership. We find that a consignment VMI partnership coupled with a production cost subsidy achieves perfect coordination and a win‐win outcome; it is simple to implement and arbitrarily allocates total channel profit. The production cost subsidy optimally chosen through Nash bargaining analysis depends on the bargaining power of the supplier and the retailer. Further, motivated by the practice that sometimes the retailer and the supplier can arrange a “late order,” we also analyze the behavior of an advance‐purchase discount (APD) contract. We find that an APD with a revenue sharing contract can efficiently coordinate the supply chain as well as achieve flexible profit allocation. Finally, we explore which coordination contract works better for the supplier vs. the retailer. It is interesting to observe that Nash bargaining solutions for the two coordination contracts are equivalent. We further provide recommendations on the applications of these contracts. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 63: 305–319, 2016     

组织设计方法研究：组织协作与效能

介绍了A2C2系列实验,并通过对A2C2实验1到实验5所采用组织结构、结构设计算法以及实验所获取的数据分析,重点研究了组织协作与组织效能的关系,在其实验结论(组织协作与效能关系的不确定性结论)的基础上对组织结构设计优化算法提出了改进思想。     

基于分布式排队网络的防空战术协同模型

分析了多个防空火力单元的作战过程,将战术BM/C3的控制协调决策抽象为决策策略。建立了多个火力单元协同作战的排队网络模型,并运用SPN理论对排队网络的运行机制进行了强有力的描述,有效地体现了防空作战过程中的威胁评估、目标分配等战术决策过程。这将为建立大型复杂排队网络,模拟仿真战役层面防空作战过程奠定基础。     

多无人机协同任务分配方法

任务分配是多UCAV协同控制的核心和有效保证,是一类复杂的多目标优化问题。针对一种扩展的混合整数线性规划(MILP)任务分配模型,通过对模型特点的分析,提出一种基于相似度的遗传退火算法解决该问题并进行仿真实验,仿真结果表明该算法具有较强的收敛性和较好的多样性,验证了改进算法解决该问题模型的有效性。     

The African Peace and Security Architecture and its partners

This article presents survey data on the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA). It focuses explicitly on two aspects: the internal constitution and achievements of the APSA; and coordination and cooperation with external actors, such as Regional Economic Communities, the United Nations and the European Union. The survey, conducted between October 2011 and December 2012, targeted 198 security experts in international organisations, think tanks, academia and non-governmental organisations. It reveals the APSA's current stage of development, achievements and challenges.     

Coordination mechanisms for a three‐stage reverse supply chain to increase profitable returns

In this article, we consider a generic electronic product that can be remanufactured or recycled at the end of its life cycle to generate new profit. We first describe the product return process and then present a customer segmentation model to capture consumers' different behaviors with respect to product return so that the retailer can work more effectively to increase the return volume. In regard to the collaboration between the retailer and the manufacturer, we explore a revenue‐sharing coordination mechanism for achieving a win‐win outcome. The optimality and sensitivity of the critical parameters in four strategies are obtained and examined both theoretically and numerically, which generate insights on how to manage an efficient consumer‐retailer‐manufacturer reverse supply chain, as well as on the feasibility of simplifying such a three‐stage chain structure. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2013     

一种基于多目标微粒群优化的虚拟网络映射方法

针对多个虚拟网络同时映射时资源统一优化分配的问题,提出了一种基于多目标微粒群优化的虚拟网络映射方法(MSC-VNE),提高底层网络资源利用率及全局负载均衡性能。建立了虚拟网络映射的多目标优化模型,将单个虚拟网络映射作为一个子群,并采用多子群协作优化的方法在子群映射时通过相互信息交换进行协同进化,最终达到全局资源的优化分配。仿真结果表明,与典型成果相比,提出的方法有效地提高了底层网络资源利用率和虚拟网络构建成功率。     

空地协同群在防空作战空地协同中的应用

鉴于防空战场形势多变,提出了空地协同群的概念,并主要从作战单元的选取、作战单元进出规则、协同关系的确定和协同通信策略等4个方面进行论述.该概念能够较好地刻画空地协同的基本理论、空地协同的组织与实施等内容,是对网络中心战背景下的空地协同作战的一种全新的诠释.     

舰艇编队舰机协同反潜警戒模型研究

反潜作战是联合机动编队的主要作战任务之一, 舰机协同反潜研究有着十分广阔的应用前景。根据舰机协同反潜行动的特点,给出了联合机动编队警戒范围的数学模型,以直升机吊放声纳和舰艇拖曳声纳为主要因素,重点研究联合机动编队及其舰载反潜直升机协同反潜作战过程中的建模与仿真问题,建立了单机和双机联合舰艇编队反潜模型。