Department of Accounting and Operations Management

Waste Management Bulletin 4(3) p. 100328-100328 Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wmb.2026.100328

Optical sorting systems offer convenient municipal waste management but face persistent challenges with material purity and cross-contamination. In Oslo, these long-standing issues have been exacerbated by recent policy incentives that unintentionally discouraged proper sorting, and stricter regulatory targets are now prompting a re-evaluation of source separation. Using Oslo’s complete road network and operational data, we model three curbside food-waste collection strategies through arc-routing optimization: the current commingled baseline, separate collection with dedicated single-compartment fleets (residual stream collected weekly or bi-weekly), and co-collection with multi-compartment vehicles The logistical impact depends strongly on the chosen strategy. Decoupling streams into separate fleets introduces significant route redundancy: weekly separate collection adds about 17% driving distance at current sorting levels, and switching the residual stream to bi-weekly roughly halves this penalty without closing it. Co-collection minimizes this penalty by preserving route density, with transport requirements approaching the commingled baseline as the compartment split better matches the waste-generation ratio, falling within 3% under close matching. However, transport minimization comes at the cost of operational adaptability. Multi-compartment vehicles impose rigidities on collection frequencies and offloading infrastructure, and their efficiency is fragile: it requires precise alignment between compartment configuration and waste generation, a target that shifts as sorting compliance evolves. The dedicated-fleet penalty is structural: each fleet traverses the network independently, and reducing the residual collection frequency narrows but does not close the gap. Collection strategy, infrastructure placement, and the policy levers shaping compliance together determine the transportation outcome and should be planned jointly rather than separately.

European Journal of Operational Research Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2026.05.032

Conventional simulation models in healthcare are typically parameterised using historical data, limiting their ability to support responsive, real-time operational decision-making. They are therefore poorly suited to dynamic, high-pressure environments such as urgent and emergency care, where decisions must reflect the current system state. In this paper, we introduce real-time decision-support using simulation (RtS), a methodology that integrates real-time operational data into a discrete-event simulation model to enable context-aware, short-term decision-making. The model integrates partial real-time data feeds with historically derived distributions using a novel data fusion and model initialisation approach. By continuously aligning the simulation with the evolving system state, RtS enhances situation awareness and enables the evaluation of adaptive interventions whose implementation influences subsequent system behaviour. We implement the technical component of our RtS framework through a proof-of-concept model of an Urgent Care Network comprising multiple emergency and urgent care facilities. We evaluate resource-neutral operational policies designed to support short-term adaptation under conditions of rising demand. Our results demonstrate that, under the modelled high-demand conditions, normal emergency department operations can be restored within a 4-hour period through the implementation of two adaptive policies. By operationalising RtS in a service-based setting and demonstrating its effectiveness relative to conventional simulation, our findings provide healthcare stakeholders and OR practitioners with both the technical foundations and the scholarly framing needed to engage in mainstream discussions on deploying RtS as a step-change solution toward simulation enabled digital twins in complex sociotechnical systems.

Decision Making in Value Chains in a Turbulent Era p. 1-19 Doi: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781035348206.00007

Edward Elgar Publishing Doi: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781035348206

This timely book explores the global developments impacting value chains, recognising that in the face of recent crises their stability can no longer be taken for granted. Taking into consideration the current demands these crises place on managerial decision makers, the book discusses how organisations should adapt their value chain practices in order to survive.

Routledge Handbook of Auditing p. 209-226 Doi: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781032651545-18

The chapter highlights the differences between the audit of private and public companies, particularly considering the demand and supply for audits of private companies, and reviews the empirical literature on private company audits. The review is organized around the concept of audit quality and focuses on studies on the auditors’ ability to detect misstatements and auditor independence, as well as on audit quality inferred from proxy measures in private company audit settings. As access to credit can be of vital importance for private companies, we further review the literature investigating the effect of audits on the private clients’ access to credit, financing costs, and credit ratings. Finally, we review the literature on the auditor choice of private companies. To identify the relevant current literature, we conducted a systematic literature search. The review reveals that the majority of the current empirical literature on private company audits largely deals with issues that have already been addressed for public companies and does not exploit the unique opportunities that the private sector offers, such as lower market concentration, different incentives for auditors, and overall greater flexibility due to less regulation. We therefore call for more ingenuity in the choice of topics and research designs.