Business Administration, Management, and Operations Commons^™

Development Of Genetic Algorithm-Based Stochastic Model To Study And Optimize Single-Echelon Vs Multi-Echelon Inventory Systems, Nadeera Ekanayake

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the College of Science and Technology Morehead State University in Partial Fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree Master of Science by Nadeera Ekanayake on November 18, 2013.

Good Partners Or Good Politicians: An Exploration Of Politics In Supply Chain Management, Ladonna Michelle Thornton

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation explores the impact of politics on internal and external supply chain management initiatives. From an intra-firm perspective, the impact of organizational politics and political skill on supply chain dynamics and processes is investigated in two quantitative articles. Article 1 is a constituency-based view perspective using survey methodology that explores the impact of organizational politics and political skill on cross-functional integration and supply chain orientation. This article finds that there is a negative relationship between organizational politics and cross-functional integration and a positive relationship between organizational politics and supply chain orientation when political skill of the top supply chain …

Anticipating, Preventing, And Surviving Secondary Boycotts, Judith Schrempf-Stirling, Douglas A. Bosse, Jeffrey S. Harrison

Management Faculty Publications

Even the best stakeholder-managed firms can suffer when they become the targets of a secondary boycott, as recent headlines attest. A secondary boycott is a group’s refusal to engage a target firm with which the group has no direct dispute in an attempt to sway public opinion, draw attention to an issue, or influence the actions of a disputant. This article provides a new perspective and tools for both scholars and managers concerned with this phenomenon. Building on a stakeholder theory foundation, we examine possible actions managers can take to avoid being surprised by a secondary boycott, propose conditions that …

Innovation, Proximity, And Knowledge Gatekeepers –Is Proximity A Necessity For Learning And Innovation?, Deogratias Harorimana Dr

Dr Deogratias Harorimana

Organisational desire for innovation and growth can be best achieved when they are in proximity. Geographical or technological proximity represent network structure in which a focal organisation is embedded, which has structural, cognitive and relational dimensions. Proximity influences innovation indirectly by its influence on agents’ ability to exchange and combine knowledge in four related ways: by giving access to exchange partners that provide opportunities for learning, increasing the anticipation of value, increasing the motivation to exchange, and by giving access to resources necessary for committing exchanges.

Off-Price Vs. Department Store Retailing, Denise Aghion

Honors Capstone Projects - All

There are multiple forms of retailing in the United States – two of the most common forms are department store retailing and off-price retailing. Both types of retailers are looking to create profits by negotiating costs with vendors to create suitable gross margins; however, they go about doing so in very different ways. Because I have interned at both types of corporations, my Capstone is to identify which, if either model, is more sustainable in today’s conditions.

Department store retailing is the most well-known form of retailing, and is currently the largest sector of retailing in the United States. They …

Jayaashree Industries: Revolutionising Sanitary Pad Use In India, Arcot Desai Narasimhalu, Christopher Dula

Arcot Desai NARASIMHALU

Arunachalam Muruganantham is a social entrepreneur dedicated to solving India’s menstrual health problems. He developed an unprecedented product as a solution: a low-cost, locally produced sanitary pad. In a paragon effort of frugal innovation, he reverse-engineered the industrial processes used to make sanitary-pads. The result was a small-scale, low-cost machine that could manufacture quality pads sold at a retail price 20% lower than the cheapest mass-produced brands. However, no one bought his pads until his wife began to sell them. After which, the two were unable to keep up with demand. This triggered his realization concerning the importance of including …

The Future Of International Trade: Sustainability Is Key, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

What can multinational companies do to ensure that international trade flourishes in years to come? Gerry Craggs, the Far East managing director of steel trading company Stemcor, says that companies like his need to focus on developing sustainable trading policies rather than immediate gain. "Sustainable trading is not driven by short term profit but by providing optimal medium and long-term supply chain solutions that benefit all participants," he told Perspectives@SMU on the sidelines of the 5th anniversary celebration of the university’s International Trade Institute (ITI). Craggs is also Chair of the International Trading Concentration Sub-Committee at the institute that consists …

Integrating Strategic And Tactical Rolling Stock Models With Cyclical Demand, Michael F. Gorman

MIS/OM/DS Faculty Publications

In the transportation industry, companies position rolling stock where it is likely to be needed in the face of a pronounced weekly cyclical demand pattern in orders.

Strategic policies based on assumptions of repetition of cyclical weekly patterns set rolling stock targets; during tactical execution, a myriad dynamic influences cause deviations from strategically set targets. We find that optimal strategic plans do not agree with results of tactical modeling; strategic results are in fact suboptimal in many tactical situations. We discuss managerial implications of this finding and how the two modeling paradigms can be reconciled.

A Simulation Approach To Airline Cost Benefit Analysis, Massoud Bazargan, David Lange, Luyen Tran, Zhiyuan Zhou

Management, Marketing and Operations - Daytona Beach

In this paper we conduct a cost benefit analyses using simulation for an Airline. This study pertains to using Towbarless Towing Vehicles (commonly referred to as supertugs) to transport aircraft to and from the terminal to airline’s maintenance hangar facility at their hub. This study attempts to investigate the possibility of reducing costs through saving jet fuel by adopting supertugs and identify if their high purchasing costs are justified. This study adopts simulation to analyze the annual savings by studying the numbers needed, as well as the utilization and operation cost for these supertugs. The results are very encouraging, enabling …

A Multi-Objective Facility Location Model For Closed-Loop Supply Chain Network Under Uncertain Demand And Return, Saman Hassanzadeh Amin, Guoqing Zhang

Mechanical, Automotive & Materials Engineering Publications

A closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) network consists of both forward and reverse supply chains. In this paper, a CLSC network is investigated which includes multiple plants, collection centres, demand markets, and products. To this aim, a mixed-integer linear programming model is proposed that minimizes the total cost. Besides, two test problems are examined. The model is extended to consider environmental factors by weighed sums and ε-constraint methods. In addition, we investigate the impact of demand and return uncertainties on the network configuration by stochastic programming (scenario-based). Computational results show that the model can handle demand and return uncertainties, simultaneously.

Sustainable Fashion At Nordstrom: Think, Adapt, Anticipate, Crystal Kizanis, Garret Mark, Natnael Tekeste, Mitchell Gould

MICCSR Presentations

This CSR mini-case focuses on CSR issues related to the supply chain in the fashion industry. The case is based on the Fashion Futures 2025 report by the Forum for the Future, and focuses on anticipated supply shortages, workforce issues, technological advances, water shortages, high energy prices, re-use and remanufacturing changes. The case calls for students to develop a strategy for Nordstrom as they prepare for this changed new world.

Due to length, the video was uploaded in 2 parts. Part II

Sustainable Fashion At Nordstrom: Its Sustainable Future, Lehualani Shiroma

MICCSR Presentations

This CSR mini-case focuses on CSR issues related to the supply chain in the fashion industry. The case is based on the Fashion Futures 2025 report by the Forum for the Future, and focuses on anticipated supply shortages, workforce issues, technological advances, water shortages, high energy prices, re-use and remanufacturing changes. The case calls for students to develop a strategy for Nordstrom as they prepare for this changed new world.

The second-place team was originally composed of students from a variety of participating universities. The other three students dropped out, citing irreconcilable differences. The student from the University of Puget …

Institutional Voids: Black Hole Or Opportunities?, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Emerging markets and their institutional voids offer great growth potential for corporates and organisations seeking an exit strategy from the gloomy European market, says Harvard professor Tarun Khanna. ‘Institutional voids’, a phrase coined by Khanna in his book "Winning in Emerging Markets, refers to the absence of intermediaries like market research firms and credit card systems to efficiently connect buyers and sellers. This creates daunting obstacles for companies trying to operate in emerging markets. According to Khanna, understanding these voids – and learning how to work with them in specific markets – is the key to success

A Three-Stage Model For Closed-Loop Supply Chain Configuration Under Uncertainty, Saman Hassanzadeh Amin, Guoqing Zhang

Mechanical, Automotive & Materials Engineering Publications

In this paper, a general closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) network is configured which consists of multiple customers, parts, products, suppliers, remanufacturing subcontractors, and refurbishing sites. We propose a three-stage model including evaluation, network configuration, and selection and order allocation. In the first stage, suppliers, remanufacturing subcontractors, and refurbishing sites are evaluated based on a new quality function deployment (QFD) model. The proposed QFD model determines the relationship between customer requirements, part requirements, and process requirements. In addition, the fuzzy sets theory is utilised to overcome the uncertainty in the decision-making process. In the second stage, the closed-loop supply chain network …

Sustainable Fashion At Nordstrom, Joe Lawless

MICCSR Case Studies

This CSR mini-case focuses on CSR issues related to the supply chain in the fashion industry. The case is based on the Fashion Futures 2025 report by the Forum for the Future, and focuses on anticipated supply shortages, workforce issues, technological advances, water shortages, high energy prices, re-use and remanufacturing changes. The case calls for students to develop a strategy for Nordstrom as they prepare for this changed new world

The Modeling Process Of The Materials Management System In A Manufacturing Company Based On The System Dynamics Method, Małgorzata Baran

Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Innovation JEMI

The article presents the steps of modeling of the material management system in a manufacturing company. First, the modeling procedures indicating by Forrester, Łukaszewicz, Souček, Tarajkowski and Sterman were described and the essence of materials management in a manufacturing company was presented. Next, modeling of the materials management system was shown - step by step. Initially, the variables of the mental model connected with materials were defined, then variables in casual loop diagrams were linked. Diagrams were transformed into a simulation model that has been verified. The validation of the simulation model was conducted by using the following methods: assessing …

What Is Strategy?, Steven Slezak

Steven Slezak

A presentation outlining the nature of strategy, emphasizing its paradoxical nature, describing its structure, and describing competitive advantage and the value chain.

Coordinating A Supply Chain With A Manufacturer-Owned Online Channel: A Dual Channel Model Under Price Competition, Jennifer K. Ryan, Daewon Sun, Xuying Zhao

Department of Supply Chain Management and Analytics: Faculty and Staff Publications

We consider a dual channel supply chain in which a manufacturer sells a single product to end-users through both a traditional retail channel and a manufacturer-owned direct online channel. We adopt a commonly used linear demand substitution model in which the mean demand in each channel is a function of the prices in each channel.We model each channel as a news vendor problem, with price and order quantity as decision variables. In addition, the manufacturer must choose the wholesale price to charge to the independent retailer. We analyze the optimal decisions for each channel and prove the existence of a …

Modeling Social Transmission Dynamics Of Unhealthy Behaviors For Evaluating Prevention And Treatment Interventions On Childhood Obesity, Leah M. Frerichs, Ozgur M. Araz, Terry T.-K. Huang

Department of Supply Chain Management and Analytics: Faculty and Staff Publications

Research evidence indicates that obesity has spread through social networks, but lever points for interventions based on overlapping networks are not well studied. The objective of our research was to construct and parameterize a system dynamics model of the social transmission of behaviors through adult and youth influence in order to explore hypotheses and identify plausible lever points for future childhood obesity intervention research. Our objectives were: (1) to assess the sensitivity of childhood overweight and obesity prevalence to peer and adult social transmission rates, and (2) to test the effect of combinations of prevention and treatment interventions on the …

Exploring The Development Chain – An Inquiry Into The Linkages Between New Product Development And Supply Chain Management, Dirk J. Primus

2013

This dissertation conducts an inquiry into the linkages between new product development and supply chain management. Simchi Levi, Simchi-Levi and Kaminsky (2008) coined the term "Development Chain" for the area where product development and the supply chain intersect. The first chapter of this research (Chapter 2) contributes to a more thorough understanding of the Development Chain (DC) and its impact on financial success with new products. We expand the term Development Chain and provide precise definitions for its scope and its activities. We develop a conceptual view of the DC at the single product/project level which can be understood and …

A Neural Network Decision-Making Model For Job-Shop Scheduling”, Davood Golmohammadi Phd

Davood Golmohammadi

Scheduling in a job-shop system is a challenging task. Simulation modelling is a well-known approach for evaluating the scheduling plans of a job-shop system; however, it is costly and time-consuming, and developing a model and interpreting the results requires expertise. As an alternative, we have developed a neural network (NN) model focused on detailed scheduling that provides a versatile job-shop scheduling analysis framework for management to easily evaluate different possible scheduling scenarios based on internal or external constraints. A new approach is also proposed to enhance the quality of training data for better performance. Previous NN models in scheduling focus …