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Operations and Supply Chain Management Commons™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Singapore Management University

2014

Articles 1 - 18 of 18

Full-Text Articles in Operations and Supply Chain Management

Managing Value In Supply Chains: Case Studies On The Sourcing Hub Concept, Anupam Agrawal, Arnoud De Meyer, Luk N. Van Wassenhove Dec 2014

Managing Value In Supply Chains: Case Studies On The Sourcing Hub Concept, Anupam Agrawal, Arnoud De Meyer, Luk N. Van Wassenhove

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

A firm’s raw material sourcing knowledge can be a strategic resource. This article explores how firms can capture and use this knowledge. It examines the sourcing experiences of four firms in four different countries in the automotive industry and identifies the raw material sourcing knowledge-related parameters. Synthesizing the findings from these case studies, it proposes the concept of the sourcing hub—a collaborative center involving the firm, its suppliers, and raw material suppliers—which can effectively capture and deploy the raw material sourcing knowledge for managing value in upstream sourcing.

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A Universal Appointment Rule With Patient Classification For Service Times, No-Shows And Walk-Ins, Cayirli Tugba, Kum Khiong Yang Dec 2014

A Universal Appointment Rule With Patient Classification For Service Times, No-Shows And Walk-Ins, Cayirli Tugba, Kum Khiong Yang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This study evaluates patient classification for scheduling and sequencing appointments for patients differentiated by their mean and standard deviation of service times, no-show, and walk-in probabilities. Alternative appointment systems are tested through simulation using a universal Dome rule and some of the best traditional appointment rules in the literature. Our findings show that the universal Dome rule performs better in terms of reducing the total cost of patient’s waiting time, doctor’s idle time, and overtime, and its performance improves further with the right sequencing of patient groups. Although it is a challenge to find the best sequence, we propose a …

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The Role Of Operations Executives In Strategy Making, Lieven Demeester, Arnoud De Meyer, Jovan Grahovac Nov 2014

The Role Of Operations Executives In Strategy Making, Lieven Demeester, Arnoud De Meyer, Jovan Grahovac

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Creating competitive advantage based on operations capabilities is likely to require much analysis and communication within the operations function. At the same time, much communication and joint strategizing with the top and other functional executives is likely to be needed as well. Hence, given that operations executives have limited time and also have to perform many other routine tasks, they need to manage two tradeoffs. The first one is between the time spent on strategy making and the time spent on everything else. The other is within strategy making, between the time spent on "functional deliberation" within the operations function …

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Strategic Sourcing In The Presence Of Uncertain Supply And Retail Competition, Jianqing Chen, Zhiling Guo Oct 2014

Strategic Sourcing In The Presence Of Uncertain Supply And Retail Competition, Jianqing Chen, Zhiling Guo

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

This paper develops an analytical model to evaluate competing retail firms’ sourcing strategies in the presence of supply uncertainty. We consider a common supplier that sells its uncertain supply to two downstream retail firms engaging in price competition in a horizontally differentiated product market. The focal firm has a dual-sourcing option, while the rival firm can only source from the common supplier. We assess the system-wide effects of supply uncertainty on the focal firm's incentive to pursue the dual-sourcing strategy. We find that the focal firm's dual-sourcing strategy can create a win-win situation that leads to increased retail prices and …

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Stability And Endogenous Formation Of Inventory Transshipment Networks, Xin Fang, Soo-Haeng Cho Oct 2014

Stability And Endogenous Formation Of Inventory Transshipment Networks, Xin Fang, Soo-Haeng Cho

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper studies a cooperative game of inventory transshipment among multiple firms. In this game, firms first make their inventory decisions independently and then decide collectively how to transship excess inventories to satisfy unmet demands. In modeling transshipment, we use networks of firms as the primitive, which offer a richer representation of relationships among firms by taking the coalitions used in all previous studies as special cases. For any given cooperative network, we construct a dual price allocation under which the network is stable for any residual demands and supplies in the sense that no firms find it more profitable …

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Auction With Rolling Horizon For Urban Consolidation Centre, Chen Wang, Stephanus Daniel Handoko, Hoong Chuin Lau Oct 2014

Auction With Rolling Horizon For Urban Consolidation Centre, Chen Wang, Stephanus Daniel Handoko, Hoong Chuin Lau

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

A number of cities around the world have adopted urban consolidation centres (UCCs) to address some challenges of their last-mile deliveries. At the UCC, goods are consolidated based on their destinations prior to their deliveries into the city centre. In many examples, the UCC owns a fleet of eco-friendly vehicles to carry out the deliveries. A carrier/shipper who buys the UCC’s service hence no longer needs to enter the city centre in which time-window and vehicle-type restrictions may apply. As a result, it becomes possible to retain the use of large trucks for the economies of scale outside the city …

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Designing Efficient Infrastructural Investment And Asset Transfer Mechanisms In Humanitarian Supply Chains, Shantanu Bhattacharya, Sameer Hasija, Luk N. Van Wassenhove Sep 2014

Designing Efficient Infrastructural Investment And Asset Transfer Mechanisms In Humanitarian Supply Chains, Shantanu Bhattacharya, Sameer Hasija, Luk N. Van Wassenhove

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We analyze the efficacy of different asset transfer mechanisms and provide policy recommendations for the design of humanitarian supply chains. As a part of their preparedness effort, humanitarian organizations often make decisions on resource investments ex ante because doing so allows for rapid response if an adverse event occurs. However, programs typically operate under funding constraints and donor earmarks with autonomous decision-making authority resting with the local entities, which makes the design of efficient humanitarian supply chains a challenging problem. We formulate this problem in an agency setting with two independent aid programs, where different asset transfer mechanisms are considered …

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Impact Of Component Supplier Branding On Profitability, Stefan Worm, Rajendra K. Srivastava Jul 2014

Impact Of Component Supplier Branding On Profitability, Stefan Worm, Rajendra K. Srivastava

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In recent years, many business-to-business (B2B) component supplier (CS) firms have added branding to their marketing toolbox. By extending the logic of ingredient branding to B2B components, they aim to create “pull” from B2B end customers by building a strong CS brand image among their customers' customers. In contrast with the established “push” approach of building strong relationships with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), it is unclear whether and under which conditions CS branding is a worthy strategy. On the one hand, anecdotal evidence suggests that suppliers can leverage strong CS brand image in negotiations with increasingly powerful OEMs to enhance …

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Cellular Bucket Brigades On U-Lines With Discrete Work Stations, Yun Fong Lim, Yue Wu Jul 2014

Cellular Bucket Brigades On U-Lines With Discrete Work Stations, Yun Fong Lim, Yue Wu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

It is challenging to maximize and maintain productivity of a U-line with discrete stations under the impact of variability. This is because maximizing productivity requires assigning workers to suitable tasks and maintaining productivity requires sufficient flexibility in task assignment to absorb the impact of variability. To achieve this goal, we propose an operating protocol to coordinate workers on the U-line. Under the protocol the system can be configured such that its productivity is maximized. Workers are allowed to dynamically share work so that the system can effectively absorb the impact of variability. Analysis based on a deterministic model shows that …

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Service Systems With Finite And Heterogeneous Customer Arrivals, Rowan Wang, Oualid Jouini, Saif Benjaafar Jun 2014

Service Systems With Finite And Heterogeneous Customer Arrivals, Rowan Wang, Oualid Jouini, Saif Benjaafar

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We consider service systems with a finite number of customer arrivals, where customer interarrival times and service times are both stochastic and heterogeneous. Applications of such systems are numerous and include systems where arrivals are driven by events or service completions in serial processes as well as systems where servers are subject to learning or fatigue. Using an embedded Markov chain approach, we characterize the waiting time distribution for each customer, from which we obtain various performance measures of interest, including the expected waiting time of a specific customer, the expected waiting time of an arbitrary customer, and the expected …

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Robust Two-Stage Stochastic Linear Programs With Moment Constraints, Sarah Yini Gao, Lingchen Kong, Jie Sun Jun 2014

Robust Two-Stage Stochastic Linear Programs With Moment Constraints, Sarah Yini Gao, Lingchen Kong, Jie Sun

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We consider the two-stage stochastic linear programming model, in which the recourse function is a worst case expected value over a set of probabilistic distributions. These distributions share the same first- and second-order moments. By using duality of semi-infinite programming and assuming knowledge on extreme points of the dual polyhedron of the constraints, we show that a deterministic equivalence of the two-stage problem is a second-order cone optimization problem. Numerical examples are presented to show non-conservativeness and computational advantage of this approach.

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Modeling Queues With Simulation Versus M/M/C Models, Kum Khiong Yang, Joyce M. W. Low, Cayirli Tugba Jun 2014

Modeling Queues With Simulation Versus M/M/C Models, Kum Khiong Yang, Joyce M. W. Low, Cayirli Tugba

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper examines the performance of single-queue service systems using a combination of computer simulation and M/M/C queuing models. Our results show that the accuracy of M/M/C models is significantly affected by the assumptions supporting the models. Managers should therefore exercise caution in using the M/M/C models for designing queuing systems when the models’ assumptions are violated. Our results show that cost-centric and servicecentric firms should manage their queues differently. While cost-centric firms should target higher arrival load, single service session, and front-loaded arrival pattern for higher efficiency, service-centric firms should strive for lower arrival load, multiple short sessions and …

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Sourcing Hub, Anupam Agrawal, Luk N. Van Wassenhove, Arnoud De Meyer May 2014

Sourcing Hub, Anupam Agrawal, Luk N. Van Wassenhove, Arnoud De Meyer

Asian Management Insights

Managing the suppliers of your suppliers may be a lot of work, but there is plenty of value in unlocking the supply chain.

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Distributionally Robust Mixed Integer Linear Programs: Persistency Models With Applications, Xiaobo Li, Karthik Natarajan, Chung-Piaw Teo, Zhichao Zheng Mar 2014

Distributionally Robust Mixed Integer Linear Programs: Persistency Models With Applications, Xiaobo Li, Karthik Natarajan, Chung-Piaw Teo, Zhichao Zheng

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In this paper, we review recent advances in the distributional analysis of mixed integer linear programs with random objective coefficients. Suppose that the probability distribution of the objective coefficients is incompletely specified and characterized through partial moment information. Conic programming methods have been recently used to find distributionally robust bounds for the expected optimal value of mixed integer linear programs over the set of all distributions with the given moment information. These methods also provide additional information on the probability that a binary variable attains a value of 1 in the optimal solution for 0–1 integer linear programs. This probability …

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The Sourcing Hub And Upstream Supplier Networks, Anupam Agrawal, Luk N. Van Wassenhove, Arnoud De Meyer Mar 2014

The Sourcing Hub And Upstream Supplier Networks, Anupam Agrawal, Luk N. Van Wassenhove, Arnoud De Meyer

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In this paper, we explore how firms can better manage their sourcing by developing relationships not only with their suppliers but also with their suppliers' suppliers. We detail an empirical case study explaining how the firm developed relationships with its suppliers and raw material suppliers via a collaborative center, the sourcing hub. We then analytically model the scenarios encountered in our empirical work and examine two facets of upstream sourcing under uncertain demand scenarios: (a) firms can supply raw material directly to their suppliers, and this may be beneficial for the firm and its suppliers; and (b) firms can bring …

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Joint Product Improvement By Client And Customer Support Center: The Role Of Gain-Share Contracts In Coordination, Shantanu Bhattacharya, Alok Gupta, Sameer Hasija Mar 2014

Joint Product Improvement By Client And Customer Support Center: The Role Of Gain-Share Contracts In Coordination, Shantanu Bhattacharya, Alok Gupta, Sameer Hasija

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We study the role of different contract types in coordinating the joint product improvement effort of a client and a customer support center. The customer support center's costly efforts at joint product improvement include transcribing and analyzing customer feedback, analyzing market trends, and investing in product design. Yet this cooperative role must be adequately incentivized by the client, since it could lead to fewer service requests and hence lower revenues for the customer support center. We model this problem as a sequential game with double-sided moral hazard in a principal-agent framework (in which the client is the principal). We follow …

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Comparison As Incentive: Newsvendor Decisions In A Social Context, Buket Avci, Zeina Loutfi, Jurgen Mihm, Elena Belavina, Steffen Keck Feb 2014

Comparison As Incentive: Newsvendor Decisions In A Social Context, Buket Avci, Zeina Loutfi, Jurgen Mihm, Elena Belavina, Steffen Keck

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Explicit formal mechanisms dominate the discussion about incentives in Operations Management, yet many other mechanisms exist. Social comparison between peers may provide strong implicit incentives for individuals. Social comparison arises naturally in all social settings and may thus be unintended; however, many companies deliberately use it to motivate employees. In this study, we model a social context in which purchasers evaluate their performance relative to their peers; a feeling of inferiority results in a negative contribution to utility, whereas a feeling of superiority results in a positive contribution. We find that social comparison induces characteristic deviations from the newsvendor optimum …

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New Bounds For The Price Of Anarchy Under Nonlinear And Asymmetric Cost, Deren Han, Jie Sun, Marcus Ang Feb 2014

New Bounds For The Price Of Anarchy Under Nonlinear And Asymmetric Cost, Deren Han, Jie Sun, Marcus Ang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We derive new bounds for the price of anarchy under nonlinear and asymmetric costs. The bounds depend on an additional factor called the intrinsic cost of the system and therefore tend to be more accurate than the current bounds that are dependent only on the degree of asymmetry of the Jacobian and the degree of the nonlinearity of the cost function.

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