Search

Currently there is no uniform method for the economic evaluation of construction and exploitation costs of underground structures that would incorporate not only construction costs, but also costs associated with possible accidents and damage during exploitation. At the same time, we believe that in such cases costs should be evaluated in advance, because these situations often result in catastrophes with incredibly high liquidation costs. In this paper our method for evaluation of costs of underground construction is proposed. In the light of the high safety standards being set for construction and exploitation of underground structures a need for evaluation of exploitation costs is justified. We propose that investment decisions should be made based not only on possible economic income and costs, but also on probable economic losses during the underground structure expatiation. An economic mathematical model for calculating probable economic effect of investment decisions has been developed for this approach. Limitations for this model have been determined based on probable construction time, design work costs, underground construction costs, underground construction repair costs, and costs of maintaining a high security profile while the structure is in use. Applying this method to evaluation of underground construction investment project costs will allow for minimization of probable economic loss during the exploitation of that structure, and will raise overall quality of investment decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the results of increasingly intensive development of subsurface resources is a global change in ecological and geodynamic safety of the natural environment. It is known that intensive extraction of minerals has led to the change on the subsoil and, as a consequence, to the redistribution of the deformed state of very significant volumes of rock mass with adverse consequences for the environment. For this reason, in many deposit fields geodynamic monitoring is actively carried out using ground-based technologies. However, with the development of space technologies, along with terrestrial methods, can be seen the widespread use of radar imagery. This article presents the results of the application of ground and space methods of geodetic monitoring of deformation of the earth's surface in oil production conditions. The processed 33 ENVISAT ASAR images are used as an example of space technology and the GPS survey and levelling data are given as the terrestrial method. A comparative analysis of economic efficiency between terrestrial and space technologies is made using the example of several fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Co-branding is an actual trend in the development of integration processes in business, since it reveals a specific form of relationship between internal and external environment in building competitive advantages in the context of integrated business structures evolution and growth. The aim of the study is the selection of an optimal structure of co-branding alliance for an integrated business structure based on the assessment of economic effects from co-branding and evaluation of the brand congruence level. The study presents a comprehensive system of synergistic co-branding strategy development built upon the implementation of a three-stage algorithm. The goal of synergistic co-branding strategy development is attaining such a branding alliance out of all possible alternatives where the economic benefits from a particular brand of integrated business structure will transform into synergistic interaction effects within the co-branding alliance. With the aim of empirical testing the relevance relationships and components of consumer attitudes to co-branding an expert evaluation of potential co-branding alliances for the Fozzy Group integrated business structure has been carried out. Given the brand congruence assessment results in terms of brand relevance and customer expectations indicators, clustering of possible co-branding alliances by the specified criteria has been performed. The evaluation of economic effects from co-branding was carried out among those co-branding alliances which demonstrated the highest level of congruence. To determine the optimal variants for co-branding alliances within Fozzy Group an ABC-analysis has been used. This study provides the rationality that co-branding is a logical follow-up of the innovation process expansion and enhancement of integrated marketing of IBS activities. The emergence of a joint product resulting from such strategic partnership between business units becomes a determining factor in the co-branding strategy and in the context of integrated structures fosters full integration of their marketing mix. From this perspective, building a co-brand seems to be a logical approach and optimal solution for further joint activities of integrated business units. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Approaches to the staffing in the context of the diverse labor market conditions (of labor excess and deficit) are analyzed. The mechanism for regulating staff turnover is algorithmized. The purpose of the work is to develop a mechanism of managing staff turnover based on the economic assessment of the negative impact of excessive staff mobility. There are given some arguments concerning the insufficiency of existing instruments to determine the normative values of the staff turnover in the enterprise. The necessity to introduce the principles of preventive management of staffing parameters is also supported. An algorithm for evaluating and correcting the staffing dynamics is proposed. The appointment of the staff balance in the staff turnover management is characterized. The impact and the significance of factors influencing the staff mobility is determined. The regulatory effects for preventing and minimizing the excessive staffing are justified. The proposed staff management mechanism comprises new tools based on the assessment of economic losses in the enterprise as a result of staff turnover. The structure of economic losses includes the cost items: loss of productivity; direct and indirect payments for dismissal on various grounds; expenses to search, attract and hire new employees, and the investment losses while forming cohesive workforce. As a result, a set of sufficient significant factors determining staff turnover of the enterprise has been justified; a methodology for estimating economic losses due to excessive staff mobility has been proposed, a mechanism for regulating staff turnover to business-acceptable values has also been tested. The knowledge gained will provide a justification for the necessity to enter into preventive measures in the technology of the enterprise's staffing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kazakhstan's joint stock company Volkovgeologija is one of the principal uranium ore producers. It has a very large fleet of drilling rigs for that purpose. About 70 % of the well's geological log are represented with highly dispersible clays, which originate caving while being penetrated by wells. Caving becomes a cause of various grave down-the-hall complications. To prevent them, special inhibiting drilling muds are to be used. Many formulas of such muds have been developed by various companies, but the tests, some of them had carried out on the deposit, had been all unsuccessful, for two reasons: Their offers did not take into account local specifics, and their products were too costly. A formula of an adequate inhibiting mud and methods of its application have been worked out by Kazakh Science and Technology University's Well Drilling Technology Department. Industrial tests have demonstrated absence of caving and drastic drop in the costs. Basing upon a formula of inhibiting mud, which is currently in use in oil well drilling industry, a new formula has been worked out, intended specifically for conditions of uranium ore producing wells. The industrial tests have proven, that the proposed formula of the inhibiting mud practically eliminates caving. A technology has been worked out for repeated application of exhausted inhibiting muds with returning their parameters to pre planned values. The cost of the inhibiting mud does not enhance the well's cost by more, than 11 %. The economic effect is made up out of elimination of time losses and costs of: repeated loggings; well-bore up and down working for balling control; down-the-hole break-downs; repeated well drilling due to well path deviation. However the exact value of economic effect has not been so far established, in view of absence of reliable statistics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]