Business Commons^™

Constructive Solution Methodologies To The Capacitated Newsvendor Problem And Surrogate Extension, Pinyuan Shan

Dissertations

The newsvendor problem is a single-period stochastic model used to determine the order quantity of perishable product that maximizes/minimizes the profit/cost of the vendor under uncertain demand. The goal is to fmd an initial order quantity that can offset the impact of backlog or shortage caused by mismatch between the procurement amount and uncertain demand. If there are multiple products and substitution between them is feasible, overstocking and understocking can be further reduced and hence, the vendor's overall profit is improved compared to the standard problem. When there are one or more resource constraints, such as budget, volume or weight, …

An Empirical Analysis Of Factors Affecting Autonomous Truck Adoption, Christopher Mondy

Dissertations

Autonomous vehicles have the potential to revolutionize the transportation industry. The segment of truck transportation is no exception. Autonomous vehicles have the potential to improve trucking safety, to increase shipping velocity, and to decrease costs. Additionally, autonomous trucks could be an important tool to help alleviate the ongoing driver shortage that the trucking industry is contending with.

Autonomous truck adoption is not guaranteed. Transportation equipment decisions are market-based, and autonomous trucks must present a compelling business case to transportation professionals. As such, it is imperative to understand the decision-making factors that drive transportation solution adoption, and how autonomous trucks could …

Containing Risk When Maximizing Supply-Chain Performance, Harrison Luvai

Dissertations

The objective of this dissertation is to develop and test an approach that will quantify the level of risk in the supply chain, evaluate the cost and impact of risk mitigation strategies, validate event management protocols pre-implementation, and optimize across a portfolio of risk mitigation strategies. The research integrates a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) model and a Discrete Event Simulation model to investigate a production-inventory-transportation problem subject to risk. The MILP model calculates the optimal Net Profit Contribution of the supply chain in the absence of risk. Deviation risks are introduced as volatility in final demand and lead times, …

Optimizing Strategic Sourcing In The Healthcare Supply Chain With Consideration Of Physician Preference And Vendor Scorecards, Parimal Kulkarni

Dissertations

This research focuses on the design of a procurement model for expensive medical supplies in a healthcare supply chain. A deterministic optimization model generates recommendations for optimal purchases of products in a given planning period. The model combines common concepts of supply chain procurement such as leveraging tiered pricing, ensuring supply base diversity with phenomena unique to healthcare supply chain such as consideration of physician preference for products. The deterministic optimization model minimizes total spend over a chosen planning period with consideration of four key decision parameters:

• Physician preference requirements (which are imposed as rules on product substitutability),
• Upper limits …

Incoterms® Use In Buyer-Seller Relationships: A Mixed Methods Study, Thomas J. Schaefer

Dissertations

The negotiation and communication of logistics management decisions between buyers and sellers of goods is critical for effective supply chain management. Incoterms® rules, a set of three character acronyms, are often used by buyers and sellers to communicate each party’s logistics management responsibilities when transacting goods. Inappropriate application of Incoterms® rules can lead to miscommunication of logistics responsibilities and expose either party to unanticipated costs and risks. This three-part mixed methods research explores the circumstances that contribute to errors in logistics management decision communication within buyer-seller dyads, the consequences of these errors, and methods to improve logistics management decision communication. …

Selecting The Best Supply Chain Strategy: When Is A Misalignment Of Product Type And Strategy Appropriate, How Do Changes In Expected Demand Impact Strategies, And Should The Strategy Of A Product Change Over Its Life-Cycle?, William Ellegood

Dissertations

To reduce the total cost of delivering a product to the marketplace, many firms are going beyond the walls of their organization and working with suppliers and customers to implement supply chain management (SCM). Fisher (1997) presented a conceptual model contending that the demand characteristics and supply chain strategy (SCS) of a product should be aligned for SCM to be successful. This dissertation presents an original analytical model of a three echelon supply chain to demonstrate under various supply chain conditions that a “misalignment” between demand characteristics and SCS can result in a lower total supply chain cost. In addition …

Supply Chain Relationships In Procurement: Is Collaboration Reality?, Wesley S. Boyce

Dissertations

Supply Chain Management (SCM) often requires independent organizations to work together to achieve shared objectives. This collaboration is necessary when coordinated actions benefit the group more than the uncoordinated efforts of individual firms. Collaboration is a key dimension of SCM, and it has numerous key dimensions of its own. These include information sharing, resource sharing, decision synchronization, incentive alignment, goal congruence, joint knowledge creation, and collaborative communication. Trust and commitment are also key factors that intertwine with these dimensions. Successful implementation of these types of collaborative relationships can lead to a collaborative advantage, where firms working together achieve greater success …