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Full-Text Articles in Business

Assessing Adoption Barriers Of Sustainable Packaging In Egypt, Carol Ramses Morgan Feb 2024

Assessing Adoption Barriers Of Sustainable Packaging In Egypt, Carol Ramses Morgan

Theses and Dissertations

Sustainable packaging has become an essential part of business decisions and corporate directions. With the rise of environmental damages due to improper waste management and unsustainable practices, businesses have a major responsibility to analyze their products’ life cycles and redesign them with sustainability in mind. Applying sustainable packaging could save companies large amounts of resources, therefore cutting costs, while also achieving the legal and social duty as a corporation towards society and the environment. Many developing countries, with specific focus on Egypt, have recently focused on legislative and corporate decisions in order to encourage more sustainable practices. Egypt’s new Waste …


The Effect Of Four Decades Of Deregulation On Competition And Productivity Of The U.S. Freight Transportation Industry, Seungjae Shin May 2023

The Effect Of Four Decades Of Deregulation On Competition And Productivity Of The U.S. Freight Transportation Industry, Seungjae Shin

Theses and Dissertations

This study reviews the competition and productivity of the U.S. freight transportation industry for the past 41 years. This study investigated the trends of HHI market concentration index values and labor productivity values of rail and truck sectors and tried to find any relationships between the two values in the separate periods before and after the abolishment of the ICC. This study also investigated how the existence of a regulatory body impacted productivity of the freight transportation industry by using a Cobb Douglas production function on annual financial statement data in the U.S. stock exchange market. This study found that: …


Exploration And Implementation Of Seaport Manatee To Relieve The Supply Chain Congestion At California Ports, Diane Wells Maclennan Jan 2023

Exploration And Implementation Of Seaport Manatee To Relieve The Supply Chain Congestion At California Ports, Diane Wells Maclennan

Theses and Dissertations

For the global economy to thrive, a stable supply chain network is imperative to provide control of the seamless flow of goods. What is detrimental to supply chain performance due to inconsistency can be costly and consequently cause out-of-stock items, deficient use of container storage capacity and faulty logistics planning. This feasibility study examined leadership decisions in the face of supply chain turbulence. The analysis introduces the congestion free SeaPort Manatee in Palmetto, Florida. It establishes how this seaport could offer an alternative sea trade path to alleviate the supply chain strain since the U.S. will most likely continue to …


Investigating Supply Parts Delivery Delay From Supply Depot To King Khaled Air Base In Royal Saudi Air Force, Rashed S. Alkhathami Dec 2022

Investigating Supply Parts Delivery Delay From Supply Depot To King Khaled Air Base In Royal Saudi Air Force, Rashed S. Alkhathami

Theses and Dissertations

Aircraft supply parts is an important factor in preparing the aircraft to do its mission. Due to delayed delivery of parts or inefficient delivery process, time may be lost waiting for aircraft supply parts, causing mission delay or failure. By tackling the delivery delay causes we can insure improvement on delivery process. In order to gather data for this thesis two different tools were used, aircraft parts data and an interview. Data was gathered from the F15 maintenance and supply squadrons in the Royal Saudi Air Force. Results of this research showed diverting in the main duty of supply depot …


Cost-Benefit Analysis Of The Saudi Land Bridge Project, Faris J. Alotaibi Sep 2022

Cost-Benefit Analysis Of The Saudi Land Bridge Project, Faris J. Alotaibi

Theses and Dissertations

Projects are the backbone of economic thrive of nations, especially infrastructure projects. It’s counted as the base layer of allowing economic trade between beneficiaries. Railway projects have always been a huge element in increasing trade operations between Saudi Arabia and the rest of the world, by providing an efficient and environmentally friendly way that is capable of hauling large loads of exports all the way to the seaports and from there to the rest of the world. The Saudi land bridge project will cost about $11 billion and will provide a new link between the existent railway in the eastern …


Measuring Seaport Performance And Congestion In The Republic Of Korea, Derrick J. Lohr Mar 2022

Measuring Seaport Performance And Congestion In The Republic Of Korea, Derrick J. Lohr

Theses and Dissertations

Companies continue to globalize their supply chain operations increasing cargo traffic and creating excessive shipping demand on ports across the globe resulting in port congestion. This increased congestion impacts USTRANSCOM’s cargo movement operations, which compete for use of the same port resources. While the DoD has organic transportation capabilities, most of the cargo is moved by commercial ocean liners. It is, therefore, necessary to understand port operations, identify excess capacity, and exploit it to avoid congestion at ports. The purpose of this study is to identify peak and idle periods by evaluating the comparative performance of seaports using data envelopment …


Number Of Authorized Suppliers And Supplier Delivery Performance, Beau D. Messenger Mar 2022

Number Of Authorized Suppliers And Supplier Delivery Performance, Beau D. Messenger

Theses and Dissertations

Every year, federal agencies spend over $500 billion to buy a wide variety of products and services, ranging from cutting-edge military aircraft to common office supplies. Supplier performance and sourcing strategies within the Air Force are distinctively complex due to the wide array of weapon systems and limited number of suppliers available within the marketplace. Academics and industry experts agree that the foundation for strong buyer-supplier relationships is a means to achieving superior performance. However, this dynamic can yield varying results when there are a limited number of suppliers available. One of the problems which emerges from the critical need …


Examining The Relationship Between An Aging Workforce And Logistics Performance Indicators, Daniel Parkhill Mar 2022

Examining The Relationship Between An Aging Workforce And Logistics Performance Indicators, Daniel Parkhill

Theses and Dissertations

In the United States, 10,000 baby boomers turn 65 every day. The subsequent generation born between 1965 and 1976 is significantly smaller, referred to as the baby bust. As a result, this causes a talent shortage as Baby Boomers retire, leaving a workforce gap which the subsequent generation is not large enough to fill. This issue also has been recognized as a potential problem in the logistics community of the United States Air Force. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of workers age on key logistics performance indicators (LPIs) such as aircraft availability, product flow days, …


Emergency Logistics Stochastic Network Optimization With Prepositioning And Distribution Center Support, Christian Graves Mar 2022

Emergency Logistics Stochastic Network Optimization With Prepositioning And Distribution Center Support, Christian Graves

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the Air Force Medical Service War Reserve Materiel supply chain management through the use of the supply chain optimization software anyLogistix. The goal is to illuminate potential improvements to policies that effect inventory management and test the effects of specific inputs, such as an influx of network support and capacity expansion, into the models. Network optimization shows the cost benefit analysis of these factors and if demand is satisfied through all demand points. Through three unique wartime scenarios, this study looks at the supply chain management of five prehospital analgesic medications: ketamine, morphine, fentanyl intravenous, fentanyl oral …


How Technology Can Advance Port Operations And Address Supply Chain Disruptions, Kevin Dowgiewicz Jan 2022

How Technology Can Advance Port Operations And Address Supply Chain Disruptions, Kevin Dowgiewicz

Theses and Dissertations

Supply chain disruptions continue to be a significant challenge as the world economy recovers from the pandemic-related shutdowns that have strained global supply chains. Shocks challenge the adaptability and resilience of maritime ports. The reaction of automated container terminals to supply chain disruptions has renewed interest, given the dramatic scenes of ships anchored for weeks. In this dissertation, I provide a vision of how technology can enhance a port’s ability to anticipate and handle shocks by improving coordination, cooperation, and information exchange across port stakeholders. The vision will be helpful for academics and practitioners to perform research that advances theory …


Performance Improvement Through Better Understanding Of Supply Chain Resilience, Amanda L. Femano Sep 2021

Performance Improvement Through Better Understanding Of Supply Chain Resilience, Amanda L. Femano

Theses and Dissertations

Businesses operate every day in a disruptive environment. Supply and demand uncertainty, natural disasters, global pandemics, and mishaps can all cause chaos to a supply chain’s flow. It is impossible to predict every disruption a supply chain may encounter. The best an organization can do to protect network performance is to build resilience in the supply chain and life-blood of its operations. Ensuring that a supply chain has the proper built-in mechanisms to resist and recover from disruptions is referred to as Supply Chain Resilience (SCR). While it is generally agreed that SCR can be improved through the implementation of …


Examining The Influence Of Source Dependence On Supplier Performance In The Usaf Organic Supply Chain, Thomas A. Counter Jun 2021

Examining The Influence Of Source Dependence On Supplier Performance In The Usaf Organic Supply Chain, Thomas A. Counter

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine the U.S. Air Force's dependence toward sole sourcing and how that influences procurement outcomes in terms of supplier performance. This research used linear regression to explain the effect of source dependence and supplier size on performance categories for 326 suppliers. The five supplier performance categories in the study included timeliness, cost control, quality, business relations, and regulatory compliance. The research found that the USAFs dependence on sole sourcing had a small but statistically significant influence on all five aspects of supplier performance, with timeliness being the most adversely impacted.


Developing A Basic Formal Supply Chain Ontology To Improve Communication And Interoperability, David Morrow Jun 2021

Developing A Basic Formal Supply Chain Ontology To Improve Communication And Interoperability, David Morrow

Theses and Dissertations

Information is crucial to supply chain performance because it is used to make decisions and trigger actions. Organizations across world-class supply chains increasingly use information technology to analyze and process supply chain data. However, supply chain management lacks a common language, making information exchange difficult. An ontology can provide a standardized framework that organizes a given knowledge domain. This research proposes a common language for developing a supply chain ontology that can be built into a basic formal ontology understood by both humans and computers. According to current research, an established and widely used supply chain framework is a good …


A Survey Of The Strategic Alternate Sourcing Program Offices Management Of United States Air Force Diminishing Manufacturing Sources And Material Shortages Subject Matter Experts, David E. Portée Mar 2021

A Survey Of The Strategic Alternate Sourcing Program Offices Management Of United States Air Force Diminishing Manufacturing Sources And Material Shortages Subject Matter Experts, David E. Portée

Theses and Dissertations

The office designated by the Air Force to be DMSMS subject expert program office is known as the Strategic Alternate Sourcing Program Office (SASPO). Aided by the USAF Program Offices and DMSMS Subject Matter Experts, the SASPO is responsible for sourcing DMSMS resolutions as well as the organizing, training, and equipping of the Program Offices DMSMS Programs. Using quantitative research, this study conducts a survey, with the USAF Program Offices as the unit of analysis, to gain insight as to where the SASPO is doing well and where gaps exist in their program management. The analysis and conclusion identify where …


Resilient Maintenance Infrastructure: Dynamic Repair Network Designs To Effectively Manage Supply Chain Disruptions, David W. Wallace Iii Mar 2021

Resilient Maintenance Infrastructure: Dynamic Repair Network Designs To Effectively Manage Supply Chain Disruptions, David W. Wallace Iii

Theses and Dissertations

Supply chains are facing numerous changes contributing to their increase in complexity and vulnerability to disruptions. Subsequently, decision-makers lack a transparent, generalizable tool to quantify supply chain resilience and assess additional resilience investments. This research facilitates a more profound understanding of the intricacies and interrelation of supply chain nodes and constructs. It integrates the Area under the Curve (AUC) metric to quantify performance or any organizational measure of competitive advantage amid a disruption. Due to its structural resemblance to various organizational platforms, the subset United States Air Force (USAF) F-16 engine repair and supply network is modeled employing discrete-event simulation. …


Predicting F-16 Cause Code H Micap Hours Using Jmp Regression Analysis, Scott E. Carr Mar 2021

Predicting F-16 Cause Code H Micap Hours Using Jmp Regression Analysis, Scott E. Carr

Theses and Dissertations

Emergency demands for aircraft parts, MICAPs (Mission Impaired Capability Awaiting Parts) are one of the leading issues affecting mission capability supply rates for fighter aircraft. Cause code H MICAPS, those with a known demand level, but no supply available, are particularly troublesome and difficult to resolve. These MICAPS are due to failures by the supply chain to replenish stock levels within acceptable time limits. Numerous studies have identified a clear need for proactive measures to reduce MICAP hours. This would significantly improve aircraft availability. This study uses regression analysis implemented in JMP software to build models with a goal of …


The Obstacles To The Modernization Of Common Support Equipment, J. Erik Ritschard Mar 2021

The Obstacles To The Modernization Of Common Support Equipment, J. Erik Ritschard

Theses and Dissertations

The current fleet of Common Support Equipment (CSE) is faced with a $2B funding disconnect that threatens 9 of the 12 USAF Core Functions. This research identifies the barriers to efforts to modernize CSE across the sustainment, acquisition, and maintenance communities. Using a qualitative, grounded theory methodology, the responses are explored of interviewed Support Equipment managers responsible for the sustainment and modernization of CSE. Significant barriers to current modernization efforts were exposed, resulting in expensive, duplicative, and unreliable equipment; concluding that the AF must change the way CSE is administrated, funded, and culturally understood to prevent future mission degradation.


From Truth To Trust: The Impact Of Blockchain Traceability On Trust In Product Authenticity, Frank Betz Jan 2021

From Truth To Trust: The Impact Of Blockchain Traceability On Trust In Product Authenticity, Frank Betz

Theses and Dissertations

In the global marketplace, customers are increasingly unaware of the source, provenance, and authenticity of products. Early research has shown that the introduction of blockchain technology into the supply chain area can make it more transparent and trustworthy. As a platform that supports distributed, cryptographically secure, auditable transactions, blockchain has expanded from the domain of digital cryptocurrency into the domain of physical asset provenance and ownership tracking and tracing. This research examines blockchain support of trust in product authenticity adopting a two-paper dissertation format. In the first conceptual paper, I develop a conceptual framework on blockchain technology's unique features and …


Investigation Of An Avionics Part Deficiencies In Royal Saudi Air Force Fleets, Nasser S. Alanazi Sep 2020

Investigation Of An Avionics Part Deficiencies In Royal Saudi Air Force Fleets, Nasser S. Alanazi

Theses and Dissertations

The Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) is experiencing a shortage in certain avionics parts due to a lack of reliability. This issue is causing a supply chain disturbance in the F1-15 fleet and the Hawk fleet. One of the factors behind this problem is the environmental effects in Saudi Arabia .The study will investigate and analyze the methods for the Improvement Cycle Processes and the Quality Management within the RSAF repair cycle. Finding show that, the discrepancies are rising during summer and fall time due to the environment change, Other finding were addressed in the study.


Aligning Performance Management Systems For Lasting Outcomes In Humanitarian Operations, Kalyn M. Howard Sep 2020

Aligning Performance Management Systems For Lasting Outcomes In Humanitarian Operations, Kalyn M. Howard

Theses and Dissertations

Logistics is dynamic, expansive, and critical to organizational success. While it is generally believed that effective logistics management is associated with positive performance outcomes, the links between organizational practice and performance are understudied. This dissertation leverages resource-based theory and organizational learning theory to examine organizational practice and performance in non-traditional logistics settings, with particular focus on military organizations and humanitarian operational settings. First, a meta-analytical study establishes generalizable associations between various operations management practices and performance outcomes. Then, this is applied to dynamic humanitarian logistics settings, exploring how practitioners perceive practice and performance, and how this is reported and documented …


Resilient Aircraft Sustainment: Quantifying Resilience Through Asset And Capacity Allocation, Zachary B. Shannon Mar 2020

Resilient Aircraft Sustainment: Quantifying Resilience Through Asset And Capacity Allocation, Zachary B. Shannon

Theses and Dissertations

Decision makers lack a clear, generalizable method to quantify how additional investment in inventory and capacity equates to additional levels of resilience. This research facilitates a deeper understanding of the intricacies and complex interconnectedness of organizational supply chains by monetarily quantifying changes in network resilience. The developed Area under the Curve metric (AUC) is used to quantify the level of demand that each asset allocation can meet during a disruptive event. Due to its applicability across multiple domains, the USAF F-16 repair network in the Pacific theater (PACAF) is modeled utilizing discrete event simulation and used as the illustrating example. …


Strategic Sourcing Of Air Force Contingency Pharmaceuticals: A Cost-Benefit Analysis Approach, Adam J. Brubakken Mar 2020

Strategic Sourcing Of Air Force Contingency Pharmaceuticals: A Cost-Benefit Analysis Approach, Adam J. Brubakken

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to identify and explore effective supply chain management principles as mitigating measures to improve contingency pharmaceutical item shortfalls in the Air Force Medical Service Contingency Pharmaceutical Program. Analysis of current pharmaceutical shortages demonstrates a significant trend of insufficient demand signals for various pharmaceutical items, resulting in instances of non-fulfillment by private sector suppliers. Through the scope of transaction cost economics, a cost-benefit analysis for various alternatives was conducted. The proposed alternatives evaluated in this thesis include continuation of the status quo, centralized procurement models from a single site, and procurement from regionally designated ordering …


Sortie-Based Aircraft Component Demand Rate To Predict Requirements, Thomas R. O'Neal Mar 2020

Sortie-Based Aircraft Component Demand Rate To Predict Requirements, Thomas R. O'Neal

Theses and Dissertations

Weapon System Sustainment (WSS) costs are growing at an increasing rate despite the vast efforts to reduce them. Researchers have attributed much of the cost increase to inaccurate demand forecasts for weapon system spare parts. In 2011, the forecast to sustain all United States Air Force (USAF) aircraft was 19% accurate and WSS costs per year have continuously increased. The purpose of this study is to explore a parsimonious change to aircraft component forecasting to reduce costly forecast error. This study substitutes flying hours with sorties for the purpose of demand forecasting. Many F-16 and B-52 spare parts are evaluated …


Inherent Jeopardy Of Performance Based Contracting Metrics: A Simulation Experiment, Daniel Cherobini Mar 2020

Inherent Jeopardy Of Performance Based Contracting Metrics: A Simulation Experiment, Daniel Cherobini

Theses and Dissertations

There is a growing trend across the world to adopt Performance Based Contracting strategies to support logistics systems. Using these policies, contract payments are strongly related to the performance achieved compared to prespecified metrics. However, managers are not always confident on what are the most suitable performance goals to use in these agreements. As a consequence, contractors struggle to deliver the desired performance results, while aircraft fleets experience an increase in support costs. And when the results are inadequate, leaders are tempted to impose even more performance targets to contractors, willing to exercise more control over the support organization. In …


Undergraduate Pilot Training Attrition: An Analysis Of Individual And Class Composition Component Factors, Christina M. Akers Mar 2020

Undergraduate Pilot Training Attrition: An Analysis Of Individual And Class Composition Component Factors, Christina M. Akers

Theses and Dissertations

The Air Force is working hard to reduce the shortage of nearly 2,000 pilots that threatens the Air Force’s core mission. Officials have focused on increasing retention and training throughput. Despite this, the first Pilot Training Next class graduated in August of 2018 with 13 of the initial 20 students (65.5% graduation rate). The purpose of this research is to explore attrition reduction by understanding how class composition of individual abilities and personalities affects the class graduation rate. Using AFOQT scores, SDI+ scores, PCSM scores, flight hours, and college GPAs, correlations were studied and a simple linear regression was run …


An Exploration In Accountable Care Organization Structure, Contingency And Performance, 2015-2017, Siriporn P. Satjapot Jan 2020

An Exploration In Accountable Care Organization Structure, Contingency And Performance, 2015-2017, Siriporn P. Satjapot

Theses and Dissertations

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 enacted one of the most significant reforms seen in the United States healthcare landscape. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) led transformation efforts in regulatory reform and coverage expansion across the U.S. population. Since 2010, care delivery systems have been shifting from episodic, decentralized and fee-for-service models to value-based population health models, like accountable care organizations (ACO). ACOs have been specifically primed for local response to improve the health of their communities. ACO research has traditionally focused on performance measures like mortality, readmissions, quality outcomes and savings. ACO organizational characteristics …


Strategic Location And Dispatch Management Of Assets In A Military Medical Evacuation Enterprise, Phillip R. Jenkins Jun 2019

Strategic Location And Dispatch Management Of Assets In A Military Medical Evacuation Enterprise, Phillip R. Jenkins

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation considers the importance of optimizing deployed military medical evacuation (MEDEVAC) systems and utilizes operations research techniques to develop models that allow military medical planners to analyze different strategies regarding the management of MEDEVAC assets in a deployed environment. For optimization models relating to selected subproblems of the MEDEVAC enterprise, the work herein leverages integer programming, multi-objective optimization, Markov decision processes, approximate dynamic programming, and machine learning, as appropriate, to identify relevant insights for aerial MEDEVAC operations.


Humanitarian Logistics: Shipping Designs For The Post Disaster Cargo Surge, Nicholas L. Green Mar 2019

Humanitarian Logistics: Shipping Designs For The Post Disaster Cargo Surge, Nicholas L. Green

Theses and Dissertations

In 2017 Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico. The humanitarian aid community scrambled a response to support the 3.4 million people affected by the disaster. In response, thousands of shipping containers filled with supplies were sent to the island. Numerous reports surfaced regarding significant delays in receiving the shipments. This research reviews the historical account of cargo throughput into Puerto Rico following Maria. A computer simulation built in ARENA compares various what-if scenarios based on empirically collected data and interviews with FEMA, port authorities, and commercial cargo carriers to determine how the humanitarian supply chain could improve for future disaster planning. …


Predicting Failures Of The Brazilian Air Force Tucano Fleet Using Survival Analysis, Luciana Mesquita Monteiro Mar 2019

Predicting Failures Of The Brazilian Air Force Tucano Fleet Using Survival Analysis, Luciana Mesquita Monteiro

Theses and Dissertations

During the life of an aircraft, several failures may occur causing unplanned maintenance and costs of parts, labor, transportation, lost opportunities, and operations, among others. The prediction of these events becomes especially difficult for new airframes, since they do not have many flight hours or enough data to observe failures. This study analyzes and model the time between failures (TBF) of the Brazilian Air Force T-27 Tucano fleet by applying various non-parametric, semi-parametric, and parametric statistical models, to the TBF, such as the descriptive statistics, Kaplan-Meier estimators, Cox proportional hazards models, with or without frailty, and survival regression models, with …


Simulating Maritime Chokepoint Disruption In The Global Food Supply, Ryan B. Walton Mar 2019

Simulating Maritime Chokepoint Disruption In The Global Food Supply, Ryan B. Walton

Theses and Dissertations

The three food crops of wheat, maize, and rice make up almost two-thirds of the world's dietary energy needs. Of these three, just six countries provide 70% of the global supply. Furthermore, soybeans account for three-quarters of global livestock feed, and only three countries provide 80% of the global supply. Considering over half of the world's exported supply of these four commodities are exported via maritime means, the free ow of marine traffic becomes paramount. Current models lack the ability to capture the inherent variance displayed in the maritime transport system, which can lead to inaccurate assumptions about how the …