How Do Investors Evaluate Business Continuity Management （BCM） Disclosures in Emergency Situations？ Evidence From the Great East Japan Earthquake

This study examines economic effects of business continuity management （BCM） disclosures through analyzing changes in shareholder returns in the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake. The author examined differences in the recovery of share price between disclosing and non-disclosing corporations. The results show that the cumulative average abnormal returns （CAARs） of disclosing corporations recovered faster than non-disclosing corporations. Then, the author examined differences in the recovery of share price between developing and non-developing corporations. The results show that there is no statistically significant difference in the recovery of share price between developing and non-developing corporations. Finally, the author examined the differences of BCM between disclosing and non-disclosing corporations. The results suggest that BCM or business continuity plan （BCP） disclosing corporations have a broader coverage of the BCP, more appropriate procedures for responding to emergency situations, more effective training of the BCM, and more mature BCM systems than non-disclosing ones.

Analysis of the ITIL Mapping with COBIT over the Business Process Continuity Management

Planning and implementation as well as increased control over the Business Continuity Management （BCM） is a complex task in the company requiring adequate resources. BCM aims to reduce risks and develops plans for restoring business activities if they are interrupted by a disaster. The purpose of the paper is to analyze and describe two standards, Information Technology Infrastructure Library （ITIL） and Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology （COBIT）, especially their mapping for the improved planning and implementation of the BCM as well as the increased control over the BCM activities. COBIT is used more as a management framework, providing management tools, such as control objectives, metrics and maturity models in order to complement the control framework. ITIL includes process steps and tasks because it is more oriented towards IT processes （process framework）, defining the best practice for IT service management. Within this mapping, ITIL processes may be used to achieve and demonstrate compliance with COBIT control objectives for BCM process.

The effects of phenolic acid on nitrogen metabolism in Populus 3 euramericana ‘Neva’

The declines in soil fertility and productivity in continuously cropped poplar plantations axe related to phenolic acid accumulation in the soil. Nitrogen is a vital life element for poplar and whether the accumulation of phenolic acid could influence nitrogen metabolism in poplar and thereby hinder continuous cropping is not clear. In this study, poplar cuttings of Populus × euramericana ‘Neva＇ were potted in vermiculite, and phenolic acids at three concentrations （032, 0.5X and 1.0X） were added according to the actual content （1.0X） in the soil of a second-generation poplar plantation. Each treatment had eight replicates. We measured gas exchange parameters and the activities of key enzymes related to nitrogen metabolism in the leaves. Leaf photosynthetic parameters varied with the concentration of phenolic acids. The net photosynthetic rate （PN） significantly decreased with increasing phenolic acid concentration, and non-stomatal factors might have been the primary limitation for PN- The activities of nitrate reductase （NR）, glutamine synthetase （GS） and glutamate synthase （GOGAT）, as well as the contents of nitrate nitrogen, ammonium nitrogen, and total nitrogen in the leaves decreased with increasing phenolic acid concentration. This was significantly and positively related to PN （P 〈 0.05）. The low concentration of phe- nolic acids mainly affected the transformation process of NO3- to NO2-, while the high concentration of phenolic acids affected both processes, where NO3- was transferred to NO2- and NH4＋ was transferred to glutamine （Gln）. Overall, phenolic acid had significant inhibitory effects on the photosynthetic productivity of Populus x euramericana ＇Neva＇. This was probably due to its influence on the activities of nitrogen assimilation enzymes, which reduced the amount of amino acids that were translated into protein and enzymes. Improving the absorption and utilization of nitrogen by plants could help to overcome the problems caused by continuous cropping.

CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT THROUGH INTEGRATION OF QUALITY TOOLS

The relationship between major quality tools such as quality function development （QFD）, failure mode and effects analysis （FMEA）, design of experiments （DOE） and statistical process control （SPC） is analyzed through an extensive review of the literature and the concurrent quality engineering philosophy, and a basic structure for the integration of quality tools is presented. An integrated quality management system （IQMS） is developed using C＋＋ Builder, running in the Windows 2000 Server environment with the basic internet connections, and SQL Server 2000 as the platform for developing the database, An illustrative example applying IQMS to the continuous quality improvement for a crane equipment manufacturing is reported. The result shows that the application of IQMS can optimize the process of design and manufacturing, shorten the cycle time of product, reduce the cost, and realize quality improvement continuously, The proposed integrated framework with IOMS is believed to be applicable to continuous quality improvement in many manufacturing companies.

Control and its role in the process of ensuring knowledge continuity

With the commencement of the 21st century, the information age, knowledge economy and integration of information and knowledge among production factors, organizations show increasing interest in knowledge management. Managers are trying not only to preserve knowledge and transfer it efficiently within their organization, but also to ensure that it is not lost when a knowledge employee leaves the organization. Therefore, it is indispensable for organizations to monitor, record, transfer and preserve their knowledge. In order to ensure efficient preservation of knowledge by the organization, it is essential to integrate the area of the so-called knowledge continuity into the general management and ensure its maximum value. The goal of the article is to identify the role of control in the transformation process and its impact on ensuring knowledge continuity within the organization. A partial goal lies in identifying output quality control by means of productivity One of the conclusions of the article is that in today＇s economic situation, ignoring the existence of knowledge continuity could result in a crisis of management of knowledge and its loss.

Business Continuity Management,Operational Resilience,and Organizational Resilience:Commonalities,Distinctions,and Synthesis

The concepts of business continuity management,operational resilience,and organizational resilience each refer to actions that businesses and organizations can take in anticipating and responding to disruptions.However,the existing definitions and usages are difficult to differentiate due to overlapping objectives,implementation processes,and outcomes.This article examines definitions and approaches for these three concepts and suggest a framework to operationalize methods and tools relevant to each.These definitions emphasize three dyads:risk versus resilience;organizational processes versus assets;and normal operating conditions versus crisis conditions.Using these dyads to differentiate the concepts of business continuity management,operational resilience,and organizational resilience can support planners in clarifying objectives and identifying which approach will be most beneficial as businesses or organizations plan for and encounter disruptions.This article evaluates these concepts by examining illustrative examples of disruptions and responses.

A Study on an Extensive Hierarchical Model for Demand Forecasting of Automobile Components

Demand forecasting and big data analytics in supply chain management are gaining interest.This is attributed to the wide range of big data analytics in supply chain management,in addition to demand forecasting,and behavioral analysis.In this article,we studied the application of big data analytics forecasting in supply chain demand forecasting in the automotive parts industry to propose classifications of these applications,identify gaps,and provide ideas for future research.Algorithms will then be classified and then applied in supply chain management such as neural networks,k-nearest neighbors,time series forecasting,clustering,regression analysis,support vector regression and support vector machines.An extensive hierarchical model for short-term auto parts demand assess-ment was employed to avoid the shortcomings of the earlier models and to close the gap that regarded mainly a single time series.The concept of extensive relevance assessment was proposed,and subsequently methods to reflect the relevance of automotive demand factors were discussed.Using a wide range of skills,the factors and co-factors are expressed in the form of a correlation characteristic matrix to ensure the degree of influence of each factor on the demand for automotive components.Then,it is compared with the existing data and predicted the short-term historical data.The result proved the predictive error is less than 6%,which supports the validity of the prediction method.This research offers the basis for the macroeconomic regulation of the government and the production of auto parts manufacturers.