Business Commons^™

Capacity Management In Agricultural Commodity Processing And Application In The Palm Industry, Onur Boyabatli, Jason Quang Dang Nguyen, Tong Wang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper examines the capacity investment decisions of a processor that uses a commodity input to produce both a commodity output and a byproduct in the context of agricultural industries. We employ a multi-period model to study the optimal one-time processing and (output) storage capacity investment decisions---in addition to the periodic processing and inventory decisions---when both input and output spot prices as well as production yield are uncertain. We characterize the optimal decisions and perform sensitivity analysis to investigate how spot price uncertainty affects the processor's optimal capacity and profitability. Using a calibration based on the palm industry, we study …

Inventory Management Based On Target-Oriented Robust Optimization, Yun Fong Lim, Chen Wang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We propose a target-oriented robust optimization approach to solve a multi-product, multi-period inventory management problem subject to ordering capacity constraints. We assume the demand for each product in each period is characterized by an uncertainty set, which depends only on a reference value and the bounds of the demand. Our goal is to find an ordering policy that maximizes the sizes of all the uncertainty sets such that all demand realizations from the sets will result in a total cost lower than a pre-specified cost target. We prove that a static decision rule is optimal for an approximate formulation of …

Technical Note—On The Relation Between Several Discrete Choice Models, Guiyun Feng, Xiaobo Li, Zizhuo Wang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In this paper, we study the relationship between several well known classes of discrete choice models, i.e., the random utility model (RUM), the representative agent model (RAM), and the semiparametric choice model (SCM). Using a welfare-based model as an intermediate, we show that the RAM and the SCM are equivalent. Furthermore, we show that both models as well as the welfare-based model strictly subsume the RUM when there are three or more alternatives, while the four are equivalent when there are only two alternatives. Thus, this paper presents a complete picture of the relationship between these choice models.

The Interaction Between Operational Flexibility And Financial Flexibility, Onur Boyabatli, Tiecheng Leng

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper examines the interaction between operational flexibility and financial flexibility in a multi-product business unit that makes operational decisions based on financial resources provided by its parent company (or headquarters). We capture operational flexibility through investment in flexible technology and financial flexibility through higher availability of financial resources. We consider the flexible-versus-dedicated technology choice and capacity investment decisions of a two-product business unit under demand uncertainty in the presence of budget constraints. The unit operates under a capital budget for financing the capacity investment, and an operating budget, which is uncertain in the capacity investment stage, for financing the …

Couples Sleeping Apart--Separate Master Bedrooms And The Impact On The Real Estate And Related Markets, John E. Crawford

Atlantic Marketing Journal

Sleeping is a fundamental individual human need. However, most adults fulfill this need by sleeping with a partner, a behavior particularly true for married couples. A trend of couples choosing to sleep apart has emerged in recent years. For reasons practical and personally beneficial or preferred, a growing number of couples are choosing to have a home with two master bedrooms--one for him and one for her, each furnished according to the needs and tastes of the partners. Thus, some homes are being built with two master bedrooms, others are being modified to have two master bedrooms, and new empty …

Isscm Newsletter, Vol. 21, November 17, 2017, Raj Soin College Of Business, Wright State University

ISSCM Newsletters

A nineteen page newsletter from the Department of Information Systems and Supply Chain Management in the Raj Soin College of Business at Wright State University.

From Rags To Riches: Following The East Asian Blueprint By Governments And Firms, Shantanu Bhattacharya

Asian Management Insights

What governments and firms should know before following the East Asian blueprint.

A New Way To Improve Logistics Efficiency And Aircraft-Onground Recovery, Katia Regina Goncalves, Erica Maria Dias Ferreira Cruz Grudzinski, Fabio Pinto, Carlos Alberto De Queiroz, Gilson Macedo Dos Santos

Graduate Student Works

The objective of this project was to bring more efficiency to logistics, improving time of Aircraft-on-Ground (AOG) recovery and developing possible saving for airlines operations. There proposed goal was to develop a system that would allow airlines to easily visualize an available space at the aircraft cargo bay on a desired flight and book its company materials (COMAT) on it, still respecting all appropriate regulation and the final availability of space.

This project was inspired by an existing system called MyIDTravel that allows jointed airline’s personnel to buy available tickets with low fares. The objective was to develop something similar …

Combinatorial Multi-Armed Bandit Problem With Probabilistically Triggered Arms: A Case With Bounded Regret, Omer Saritac, Cem Tekin

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In this paper, we study the combinatorial multi-armed bandit problem (CMAB) with probabilistically triggered arms (PTAs). Under the assumption that the arm triggering probabilities (ATPs) are positive for all arms, we prove that a simple greedy policy, named greedy CMAB (G-CMAB), achieves bounded regret. This improves the result in previous work, which shows that the regret is O (log T) under no such assumption on the ATPs. Then, we numerically show that G-CMAB achieves bounded regret in a real-world movie recommendation problem, where the action corresponds to recommending a set of movies, arms correspond to the edges between movies and …

Contracts To Promote Optimal Use Of Optional Diagnostic Tests In Cancer Treatment, Salar Ghamat, Gregory S. Zaric, Hubert Pun

Business Publications

In this study, we examine performance-based payment contracts to promote the optimal use of an optional diagnostic test for newly diagnosed cancer patients. Our work is inspired by three trends: tremendous increases in the cost of new, advanced cancer drugs; development of new diagnostic tests to allow physicians to tailor treatment to patients; and changes in healthcare funding models that reward quality care. We model the interaction between two parties—a healthcare payer and an oncologist, in which the oncologist has private information about patients’ characteristics (adverse selection) and the payer does not know whether the oncologist takes the optimal course …

Creating The Context For Effective Culture Work, Matthew Berberich

River Cities Industrial and Organizational Psychology Conference

A culture that embraces change, responds quickly to changing needs and connects everyone at every level as business owners is an exciting future for companies and employees. In this culture leaders learn to unleash the unique potential in each individual to solve problems never solved before. The opportunity for positive impact goes far beyond our daily work. It spills into every area of our lives and in tangible ways impacts the world. Performance metrics and engagement only put you in line for this door to the future. The door can get locked when organizations become lulled into thinking “good-enough” by …

Geopolitics Of Rare Earth Elements, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Rare earth elements (REE) contain unique chemical physical properties such as lanthamum, are found in small concentrations, need extensive precise properties to separate, and are critical components of modern technologies such as laser guidance systems, personal electronics such as IPhones, satellites, and military weapons systems as varied as Virginia-class fast attack submarines, DDG-51 Aegis destroyers, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, and precision guided munitions. The U.S. has some rare earth resources, but is heavily dependent on access to them from countries as varied as Afghanistan, Bolivia, and China. Losing access to these resources would have significant adverse economic, military, and …

Hbcu Technology Transfer Supply Chair Networks’ Sustainability: Budget Resource Planning Tool Development, Clovia Hamilton

Winthrop Faculty and Staff Publications

This study describes the development of a university technology transfer supply chain network sustainability tool that Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) can use to become more self-reliant financially. HBCUs lag behind their peer non-HBCUs because historically they have been under-served and were originally established largely as teaching and blue collar trade schools. Increased involvement in research oriented activities such as technology transfer will likely enable HBCUs to grow into new or stronger research institutions. The literature review revealed several problem areas with non-HBCUs university technology transfer include a resource planning issues. These problem areas for non-HBCUs would be challenging …

Tls Newsletter October 2017, Unf Transportation And Logistics Society

Transportation & Logistics Society Newsletter

In the Newsletter: TLS Alumni Networking Night. President's Corner. T & L Student Travels. What Not to Miss this Fall. Get to Know TLS VP Joshua Powell. Industry Insight: JaX LNG. Life after graduation with Gina Akel.

Isscm, Master Of I.S. Cohort, Fall 2017, Raj Soin College Of Business, Wright State University

ISSCM Master Cohort Posters

Poster of the 2017 Cohort from the Master of Information Systems Program.

Identification Of Reverse Engineering Candidates Utilizing Machine Learning And Aircraft Cannibalization Data, Marc Banghart

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

As military aircraft continue to remain in service and age, cannibalization of parts is increasing. Proactive identification of parts that are at high risk for cannibalization will inform engineering processes such as reverse engineering, thus allowing potentially reducing lead time to develop new parts. The research objective was to develop a causal structure that can be used for prediction of when cannibalization actions may occur. Bayesian networks allow encoding of causality between various descriptive features given a data set. The method utilized a tabu search algorithm, identified the underlying causal structure and the associated node probabilities. The method is then …

Isscm, M.S. In Logistics & Scm Cohort, Fall 2017, Raj Soin College Of Business, Wright State University

ISSCM Master Cohort Posters

Poster of the Fall 2017 Cohort from the Master of Science in Logistics and Supply Chain Management Program.

Vungle Inc. Improves Monetization Using Big-Data Analytics, Bert De Reyck, Ioannis Fragkos, Yael Gruksha-Cockayne, Casey Lichtendahl, Hammond Guerin, Andre Kritzer

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The advent of big data has created opportunities for firms to customize their products and services to unprecedented levels of granularity. Using big data to personalize an offering in real time, however, remains a major challenge. In the mobile advertising industry, once a customer enters the network, an ad-serving decision must be made in a matter of milliseconds. In this work, we describe the design and implementation of an ad-serving algorithm that incorporates machine-learning methods to make personalized ad-serving decisions within milliseconds. We developed this algorithm for Vungle Inc., one of the largest global mobile ad networks. Our approach also …

Transshipment Hub Selection From A Shipper’S And Freight Forwarder’S Perspective, Gang Chen, Waiman Cheung, Sung-Chi Chu, Liang Xu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Transshipment hub selection becomes increasingly important to the global logistics community. From the perspectives of shippers and freight forwarders, a selection must align with cost control strategy and sustain service reliability across cooperative service providers. This paper assesses the selection with the options of both sea and air transports, and from the influence of country of origin of the company. Critical factors of transshipment hub selection, both qualitative and quantitative, are identified through focus group discussions. Relative importance of these factors is determined based on collective views of logistics stakeholders. The competitiveness of transshipment hubs is then assessed using an …

Performance Of Cellular Bucket Brigades With Hand-Off Times, Yun Fong Lim

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

A cellular bucket brigade is a way to coordinate workers along an aisle with work content on both sides. Each worker in a cellular bucket brigade works on one side of the aisle when he proceeds in one direction, and he works on the other side when he proceeds in the reverse direction. Although the cellular bucket brigade eliminates the unproductive walk-back, it requires more hand-offs to assemble a product than a traditional (serial) bucket brigade. These hand-offs may waste significant production capacity as each of them requires an exchange of work, which can be complicated and time-consuming in practice. …

Isscm Newsletter, Volume 20, September 22, 2017, Raj Soin College Of Business, Wright State University

ISSCM Newsletters

A seventeen page newsletter from the Department of Information Systems and Supply Chain Management in the Raj Soin College of Business at Wright State University.

Book Retailers And The Ever-Changing Scm Landscape: Case Study Of Barnes & Noble Company And Amazon, William T. Rupp, Steven A. Clinton

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

No abstract provided.

Integrating Exploring Sustainability And Supply Chain Management In The Development Of Smart Tiles By Tesla, Dean R. Manna

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

No abstract provided.

Amazon.Com, Inc.: Retailing Giant To High-Tech Player?, Alan D. Smith, William T. Rupp, O. Felix Offodile

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

No abstract provided.

Tls Newsletter, September 2017, Unf Transportation And Logistics Society

Transportation & Logistics Society Newsletter

Inside the Newsletter: Fall Kick Off! Wednesday, September 13. President's Corner. Upcoming Events. Get to Know TLS Newsletter Editor, Juliana Young. Jax Chamber T & L Council. Life after Graduation with Ryan Moore, CTL

Optimizing (S, S) Policies For Multi-Period Inventory Models With Demand Distribution Uncertainty: Robust Dynamic Programming Approaches, Ruozhen Qiu, Minghe Sun, Yun Fong Lim

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We consider a finite-horizon single-product periodic-review inventory managementproblem with demand distribution uncertainty. We formulate the problemas a dynamic program and prove the existence of an optimal (s, S) policy. Thecorresponding dynamic robust counterpart models are then developed for thebox and the ellipsoid uncertainty sets. These counterpart models are transformedinto tractable linear and second-order cone programs, respectively. Weillustrate the effectiveness and practicality of the proposed robust optimizationapproaches through a numerical study.

Demand Analysis Of The Search And Rescue Resources In Tianjin Haihe River Downstream, Yanfu Li

Maritime Safety & Environment Management Dissertations (Dalian)

No abstract provided.

Improving Cardiology Patient Flow In Nuclear Medicine, Kelly Haar, Hannah Sullivan, Kathryn Laverdiere, Nuclear Medicine Department, Haley Pelletier, Stephen Tyzik, Suneela Nayak, Ruth Hanselman

MaineHealth Maine Medical Center

At baseline, a nuclear medicine department found it difficult to complete cardiac stress tests within scheduled times. Using the performance improvement process, a nuclear medicine department looked to improve patient experience related to wait times for this test.

Two goals were identified and a root cause analysis was initiated. After identifying some process issues, two KPIs were developed to address them.

A root cause analysis identified some processing issues and two KPIs were instituted to address them.

As a result, one outcome was to hire an additional physician assistant to address the barrier of inadequate cardiology coverage. Next steps include …

Air Freight, Kyle Dunham, Sid Seavers

Master of Science in Logistics & Supply Chain Management Capstone Executive Summaries and Projects

This study highlights the supplier selection process: identifying the vendors, requesting formal bids, evaluating bids submitted via a weighted metric process, and ultimately setting contract terms and negotiating details of the logistics process.

Impact Of A Kpi-Driven Shared Service Dynamic Fee Model, Jeffrey Dice

Master of Science in Logistics & Supply Chain Management Capstone Executive Summaries and Projects

This study will focus on the impact of a KPI-driven shared service dynamic fee model on shared office solution (SOS) shared service group within the majority shareholder’s organization. Once tested and proven, the conceptual model can be expanded across all shared service groups including being applied against the historical fee model. Although the KPIs will vary between shared service departments, the conceptual design should hold true across the organization.