Business Commons^™

A Darker Shade Of Gray: An Empirical Examination Of Gray Swans In The Supply Chain, Tony N.K. Lynch

Theses and Dissertations

The complexity and interconnectedness of markets creates risks in the global supply chain and may lead to various types of disruptions. Prior research in the supply chain management literature has focused on some aspect of disruption and firm performance. However, the effect of Gray Swans on various aspects of firms’ operational or financial performance is an under-research area. Understanding why managers often underestimate and overlook Gray Swans contributes to ongoing conversation of risk in the global supply chain. Gray Swans are defined as low probability risk events that if/when they occur can have a severe or catastrophic impact on a …

Reevaluating Order Fulfillment Decisions For E-Tailers Under True Simulated Operating Conditions, Amir H. Kalantari

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation makes both a methodological and an applied contribution. From a methodological standpoint, this is among the very first works in the literature to explore the concepts of true simulated operating conditions and fully embedded decision-making algorithms. We illustrate the effectiveness of these concepts by applying them to an online retailer (i.e. e-tailer) order fulfillment decision making process.

Online shopping has completely transformed retail markets in recent years. For customers, it provides convenience, visibility and choice, and for retailers it provides market expansion opportunities, operational cost reduction, and many other advantages. There are fundamental differences between the supply chain …

Symbiotic Relationships Among Innovations And Sustainable Practices: A Supply Chain Management Perspective, Muratcan Erkul

Theses and Dissertations

Sustainability as a business phenomenon has occupied the attention of academicians, practitioners, and consumers for more than three decades. While some firms emphasize on their own internal sustainability initiatives, there is a growing trend to implement sustainability across the supply chain. This increasing interest makes implementation of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) practices very important for focal firm's sustainability; however, the ability to create innovative products, processes, and ways of operating is crucial if an organization is to be sustainable. Although there have been studies that investigate innovation in the context of sustainability, their scopes are limited to a single …

An Information Theoretic Investigation Of Complex Adaptive Supply Networks With Organizational Topologies, Joshua V. Rodewald

Theses and Dissertations

Supply networks exist throughout society in manufacturing and knowledge-intensive industries as well as many service industries. Organizations have been noted to behave as complex adaptive systems or information supply networks with both formal and informal structures. Thoroughly understanding supply network structure and behavior are critical to managing such organizations effectively, but their properties of complex adaptive systems make them more difficult to analyze and assess, forcing researchers to rely on unrealistic data or assumptions of behavior. This research proposes an information theoretic methodology to discover such complex network structures and dynamics while overcoming the difficulties historically associated with their study. …

The Influence Of Education And Experience Upon Contextual And Task Performance In Warehouse Operations, Allen R. Miller

Theses and Dissertations

Supply chain workers make observable, preventable errors while completing their assigned tasks in the shipping process. Previous research has indicated that individuals with a greater grasp of their work and better system knowledge are less likely to commit interpretation errors. We believe worker-performance may, likewise, be affected by an individuals knowledge of why and where they fit into a larger system defined as mission knowledge. To assess our research objectives, we conduct a controlled experiment with 100 workers in the Air Force supply career field to discern how mission clarity, that is, education, experience and subject characteristics affect pick and …

A Total Cost Approach To Supply Chain Risk Modeling, Brian J. Saunders

Theses and Dissertations

The modern supply chain is long, complex, interconnected and global, and plays a fundamental role in business competitiveness. These conditions, along with various supply chain management trends in recent years have increased risks in supply chains which threaten supply chain performance. Greater impact, especially on cost, from an increased threat of supply disruptions is one area of particular concern. Companies today are struggling to find effective means to manage this increased risk and avoid adverse financial impacts. An approach to managing supply disruption risk in supply chains based on the minimization of the total cost of ownership (TCO) of the …