Business Commons^™

Failed Policy As Seen In The Solar Trade War, Emma Weirich

Economics Theses

Increasing protectionist policies in the United States have attempted to protect solar manufacturing jobs; however, they have created negative repercussions for the majority of the industry. This paper aims to analyze the 2018 30% US tariff on all imported photovoltaic cells and modules and whether or not it has been an effective policy to protect and encourage the solar industry. To do so, the paper will analyze similar tariffs enacted in 2012 and 2014 by the United States to understand how the tariffs have been impacting the solar energy’s labor market and photovoltaic module and cell price fluctuations. By researching …

Task-Based Estimation And Planning For Application Development Projects And Resources: Models, Methods And Applications, Chidambaram Subbiah

Dissertations

This dissertation takes a new approach to software development effort estimation from the perspective of design patterns at an organization. A new estimating tool is developed to provide bottom up estimates based on the design patterns of the organization. The research also offers guidelines for extracting the unique design patterns specific to an organization that are used to obtain baseline task level estimates in the Estimating Tool. In addition, the tool provides a suite of seven estimates using predictive analytics to estimate the labor hours required for a project using historical data, a bottom-up estimate that is rooted in the …

Decarbonising The Global Supply Chain: Which Fuel Alternative Should Shipping Companies Turn To? : A Feasibility Study Of The Implementation Of Biofuels, Kareen Miharivola Andriantsiferana

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Understanding The Concept Of Limitation Of Liability Per Package/Unit Under A Bill Of Lading Contracts Globally In General And In Ethiopia In Particular, Melaku Mitiku

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Ros, Forgery, And Fraud In The Context Of Honduran Ship Certificates, Angelica Dalida Meza

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Developing A Shipping Registration Strategy For The Philippines: A Business And Policy Framework, Althea Marie E. Calag, Carlo B. Cruz

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Analysis Of The Role Of The Shipping Agent In The Logistics Chain And Operations Of Crude Oil Tankers, During Their Port Call To The Oil Terminal Of Balao, Ecuador: Case Of Study : Ep Flopec, Juan Sebastian Vasquez Alvarez

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Cost Stickiness And Supply Chain Bargaining Power, Binghao (Jimmy) Zhao

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Given the essential role of supply chains in the economy, furthering our understanding of the interactions between trade partners is important. In this paper, I study the relation between cost stickiness and bargaining power over supply chain partners. I document evidence consistent with the argument that firms wield supply chain bargaining power to avoid cost stickiness by shifting high adjustment costs onto their trade partners. In particular, I show that the level of SG&A and COGS stickiness is negatively associated with firms’ bargaining power over their suppliers and customers. My results are robust to using industry competition as an alternative …

Research On Green Supply Chain In Textile And Apparel Industry, Shiyao Kang

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Customer's Inventory Accruals And Supplier's Earnings Quality, Cheuk Kwong Fok

Lingnan Theses and Dissertations (MPhil & PhD)

We examine the influence of customer’s inventory accruals on supplier’s accounting quality and earnings management practices. We consider two views of the role of customer’s inventory accruals play on their supplier and how they relate to their financial reporting. The first is the customer’s inventory accruals reflect supplier’s earnings management (i.e., intentional bias) as well as lead to difficulty in supplier’s earnings estimation (i.e., unintentional errors). The second view is based on supplier’s information advantage theory, which suggests suppliers are capable to interpret the information content of customer’s inventory accruals. In contrast to the information advantage view, we find that …

Extending The Boundaries Of Supply Chain Transparency: Supplier Monitoring Activity Disclosure, Consumer Evaluations, And Brand Equity, Yanji Duan

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Socially responsible policy makers and consumers are pressuring firms to make their supply chains more transparent by disclosing information about their supplier monitoring activities (SMA). Yet, high monitoring costs and the complexity of supply chains pose challenges for firms to effectively monitor their extended supply chain, including both first-tier and lower-tier suppliers. In order to comprehensively evaluate the net benefit from SMA, it is therefore critical to consider potential effects on drivers of additional revenues that may accrue from the disclosure of SMA to consumers.

Prior research on SMA has examined the associated cost, risk, and supplier relational implications on …

Culture Inside The Firm And Its Effect On Collaboration Within The Supply Chain Industry, James Bailey Morris

Honors College Theses

Increasing collaboration between suppliers and buyers is a goal of every firm. Researchers have discovered multiple aspects that can affect this level of collaboration including culture. Cultures between firms have been analyzed, however no study has examined how the culture within a firm affects the firm’s collaboration. This study aims to research how the cultural dimensions of in-group collectivism and future orientation can affect firm collaboration and performance. After our analysis, the following relationships were discovered: in-group collectivism and future orientation positively affect collaboration, and collaboration positively affects the individual’s perception of organizational support.

Blood Supply Chain Networks In Healthcare: Game Theory Models And Numerical Case Studies, Pritha Dutta

Doctoral Dissertations

A crucial component of every healthcare system is the safe and steady supply of the life-saving product, blood. In order to meet the demand for blood consistently, it is imperative to maintain a robust supply chain. The blood banking industry in the United States, faced with emerging challenges, which include, an increase in operating costs, rise in competition among blood centers, insufficient reimbursement from payers such as insurance companies and government programs, in addition to inherent challenges such as donor motivation, seasonal shortages, perishability, is trying to adapt to the changing dynamics to sustain itself economically. The altruistic nature of …

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.

Trends In The Study Of Indirect Procurement, Daniel Israel

Honors Theses

Indirect procurement has largely been ignored in scholarly research due to only representing a small portion of a firm’s expenditures, and suffers from a confusing nomenclature that makes drawing conclusions difficult. However, indirect procurement is a diverse and crucial component of purchasing that allows for sustainable competitive advantages and reduced costs, if managed properly. By performing a keyword search in the ABI/INFORM database, we analyzed, consolidated, and summarized the current areas of research as it pertains to indirect procurement. We also identified suggested further areas of research, as educated by our previous analysis. We find that the majority of the …

Bonipak Trucker Lounge Improvements, Lauren M. Reade

Agricultural Education and Communication

Bonita Packing Company, also known as Bonipak, has been a produce grower and shipper in the Santa Maria Valley for nearly 90 years and has contracts with customers all over the United States and Canada. Since 1932, the family owned and operated business has maintained steady growth as the population continues to rise all while making it a goal to uphold their family values and maintain their deep roots within the community. Transitioning into a fourth generation family farm, the Bonipak team hopes to continue to promote growth and maintain a positive reputation within the community and beyond. With multiple …

Impact Of Supply Chain Design On The Relationships Between Strategy Type, Firm Performance, And Supply Chain Outcomes, Kyle Pudenz

College of Business Theses and Dissertations

While the impacts of corporate strategy and supply chain design on firm performance have been independently studied, the role of supply chain design as an integrated element of corporate strategy is not well understood. This study aims to understand whether alignment between an organization’s strategy type and supply chain design positively impacts financial performance and supply chain outcomes. The study design involved a quantitative survey of 95 management professionals knowledgeable about their corporate strategy, supply chain design, and firm performance. Firm performance was measured in financial terms of perceived profitability and market share gains as well as through use of …

Athletic Advantage: Employers’ Views On Applicant’S Involvement In Student Athletics, Jonathan Wenning

Honors Projects

I have always been told that because of my involvement in athletics, recruiters will be more interested to hire me over other candidates because of the skills I have learned as a student athlete. By completing this honors project, I had the ability to survey hiring managers and recruiters targeting Bowling Green Business Students to see if and why they have a preference of hiring a student athlete.

Artificial Intelligence And The Future Of Supply Chain Management, Christine Kinsey

Honors Projects

This paper discusses how artificial intelligence is being implemented in today's supply chain with a focus on the automotive industry. It looks at some of the challenges businesses are facing while implementing artificial intelligence, as well as a case study with a prominent automotive manufacturer. Lastly, it discusses the future of the supply chain industry with artificial intelligence's influence.

Comprehensive Poultry Supply Chain Model With Vertical And Horizontal Linkages: Implication Of Domestic And International Shocks, Hakan Unveren

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

According to USDA FAS, in 2017, the US was the largest broiler-producing country with 18.696 million metric tons and the second largest exporter of broiler products with 3.075 million metric tons (Brazil is the largest exporter with 3.847 million metric tons). Thus, around 83% of US production is consumed domestically. According to USITC, chickens are the most important protein source in the US, and Americans consume more chicken per capita than any other country. However, while the broiler industry is a key segment of US agriculture, it is underserved by large-scale supply-chain and trade models.

In this study, to fill …

Procesos Administrativos Y Contables Para La Fundación Dejando Huellas Mets, Diego Mauricio Cárdenas Diaz, Ivonne Alexandra Vargas Valderrama

Contaduría Pública

El trabajo presentado a continuación permite identificar el seguimiento realizado a la Fundación Dejando Huellas METS, ubicada en la localidad 18 Rafael Uribe Uribe de la ciudad de Bogotá, en la cual se realizó un proceso de investigación y acompañamiento que permitió la recopilación de información primaria a través de visitas al entorno interno y externo de dicha institución. Por medio de entrevistas realizadas a la señora Marisol Rincón, en su calidad de fundadora y presidente, se logró identificar las limitantes de conocimiento sobre temas administrativos y contables, elementos necesarios para ejecutar procesos de planeación y seguimiento que permitiera un …

Knowledge Gap: Supply Chain Students And Employers, Kathryn Bules

Honors Theses

This thesis project aims to identify the gap(s) between supply chain students and employers for both the preparedness and relative importance of the critical job skills employers seek in graduating students. This research is relevant because students view college as an investment that will pay off through better job placement and higher pay upon graduation. The problem is that some employers feel students do not have the skills necessary to be successful on the job. While there has been extensive research regarding a skills gap in graduating students and common criteria employer’s use to rank these students, there is minimal …

Examining The Express Supportability Module: Implementing An Autoregressive Distributed Lag Approach With Air Force Maintenance Data, Troy J. St Peter

Theses and Dissertations

Launched in 1996, EXPRESS (Execution and Prioritization of Repairs Support System) is a program integral to the Air Force reparable supply chain. Daily, EXPRESS relies on a number of data sources and individual modules like the Supportability Module to determine which necessary repairs can and should be made. The Supportability Module examines the prioritized list of repairs and checks four constraints in order to decide whether each repair can be made given current resources. According to the logic of the module, a single constraint failure means that subsequent resource checks are not made before evaluating the next repair. Unfortunately, this …

Turbojet Range, Loiter, And Altitude Tradeoff Estimations In Efficient Modeling And Optimization Formulations, Lauren M. Bramblett

Theses and Dissertations

Identifying accurate tradeoffs between loiter time, range, and loiter altitude for jet aircraft are critical for mission planning, but current methods are cumbersome and time and labor intensive. This research introduces a new method for determining tradeoffs between loiter time, range, and loiter altitude for jet aircraft utilizing specific aircraft performance characteristics and the Bréguet range and endurance equations. Results from this new methodology are compared to the existing model used by the National Air and Space Intelligence Center for flight planning. This method is then extended and applied to several routing assignment problems, taking advantage of the incorporation of …

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. …

Applying The Multiple Multidimensional Knapsack Assignment Problem To A Cargo Allocation And Transportation Problem With Stochastic Demand, Jocelin S. Maus

Theses and Dissertations

The US military relies on airlift to not only deploy and sustain U.S. armed forces anywhere in the world but also to rapidly mobilize humanitarian efforts and supplies. Operations already impacted by the limited capacity of aircraft also fall prey to dynamic requirements and differing priorities of multiple global locations. A growing concern for the modern military budget is how to provide airlift functions expediently and economically while mitigating the costs of shortfalls and overages. Utilizing fiscal year 2017-2018 cargo data published by the 618th Air Operations Center and modeling this problem as a multiple multidimensional knapsack assignment problem (MMKAP), …

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 …

Fuzzy Inference Systems For Risk Appraisal In Military Operational Planning, Curtis B. Nelson

Theses and Dissertations

Advances in computing and mathematical techniques have given rise to increasingly complex models employed in the management of risk across numerous disciplines. While current military doctrine embraces sound practices for identifying, communicating, and mitigating risk, the complex nature of modern operational environments prevents the enumeration of risk factors and consequences necessary to leverage anything beyond rudimentary risk models. Efforts to model military operational risk in quantitative terms are stymied by the interaction of incomplete, inadequate, and unreliable knowledge. Specifically, it is evident that joint and inter-Service literature on risk are inconsistent, ill-defined, and prescribe imprecise approaches to codifying risk. Notably, …

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 …

Operations Research Methods For Multi-Domain Campaign Phase Planning, John A. Schlicht

Theses and Dissertations

In "Antiaccess Warfare as Strategy," Tangredi posits the question and need to consider multiple domains and governmental and warfighting functions in various phases of campaign execution. Multi-domain integration within and across various phases of the joint campaign presents a host of non-linear factors that are compounded and amplified by uncertainties. Colonel Blotto is a simple game that is suited to compare traditional force-on-force military engagements where mass wins the day, but have had limited application to more complex military planning. This thesis explores the formulation schema, data-driven parameters, methods of calculation, and scenarios applicable to a generalized Colonel Blotto (General …