Operations and Supply Chain Management Commons^™

Navigating Geopolitical Disruptions: Adaptive Strategies For The Agri-Food Sector, Barbara H. Skudrzyk

Dissertations

This study explores how Polish food supply chain stakeholders enhance global resilience in response to geopolitical disruptions. Focusing on the geopolitical conflict in Ukraine, this dissertation explores its effects on Poland’s agri-food supply chain and the adaptive strategies employed to foster resilience. The research aims to pinpoint and analyze the most significant operational risks within Polish agri-food supply chain stakeholders. This study explores how risks impact key areas of the supply chain, given their central role in food security and economic stability, and evaluates how well current strategies mitigate disruption and build resilience. Ultimately, this work develops a comprehensive framework …

China’S Influence Over The Mining Industry In Africa, Safa M. Altamimi, Reda Amer

Undergraduate Research Symposium

How much influence does China have over the international supply of minerals from Africa? The purpose of this research is to study China’s involvement in Africa’s mining industry and analyze its impact on US economic interests. China has traded and invested in many mining sites across Africa; However, I will be focusing on DRC, Zambia, and Zimbabwe for my research. Using ArcGIS pro tools, I will create and analyze a map that contains information about mineral deposits and facilities.

An Empirical Analysis Of Factors Affecting The Commercial Adoption Of Autonomous Trucks, Christopher Mondy, Matias Enz, Daniel Rust

Educator Preparation & Leadership Faculty Works

Autonomous semi-trucks are poised to be a disruptive technology in the motor carrier industry, and many studies extol the virtues of autonomous vehicles. The benefits cited in these studies generally assume high market penetration rates, yet there is a lack of rigorous qualitative studies that investigate the factors that will drive autonomous truck adoption in the commercial transportation sector. This study describes a conceptual model featuring twelve factors that may affect autonomous truck adoption. These factors were identified from a grounded theory analysis of semi-structured interviews with a sample of transportation professionals from different companies, positions, and geographic regions within …

Strategic Procurement Management Of Railroad Rolling Stock In The European Union, Sebastian Jarzębowski, Christopher Mondy, Izabela Dalewska-Mądra, Matias Enz

Educator Preparation & Leadership Faculty Works

Purpose – Like a well-designed procurement strategy, a well-designed rolling stock strategy promotes the development of a railroad company and contributes to its competitive advantage. Effective implementation of the rolling stock strategy enhances the likelihood of enjoying the benefits of the strategy’s design. A successful implementation relies on the strategy being known, understood, controlled and communicated to the entire organization.

Design/methodology/approach – The research consists of an extensive literature review as well as a series of workshops with rolling stock suppliers, railway authorities and representatives and rail users.

Findings – This paper presents a collection of solutions for passenger rail …

Navigating The Landscape: Perceptions, Motivations, And The Journey Of Data Professionals In Implementing Data Processes And Procedures, Willie Rivers

Dissertations

This explanatory study investigates the motivations behind data professionals' willingness or resistance to implementing data policies and procedures, utilizing the Theory of Planned Behavior and Psychological Ownership as frameworks. Through interviews with 21 data professionals, the research explains how factors such as perceived control, ownership, and attitudes towards data processes influence their motivation. The study tests key propositions, including the impact of perceived time burdens, bureaucratic procedures, and organizational expectations on data governance engagement. The findings underscore the critical role of control and access to information in motivating the adoption of data policies, providing insights for organizations aiming to enhance …

Vaccine Distribution With Drones For Less Developed Countries: A Case Study In Vanuatu, Shakiba Enayati, James F. Campbell, Haitao Li

Educator Preparation & Leadership Faculty Works

Drones (uncrewed aerial vehicles or UAVs) introduce new opportunities to improve vaccine distribution systems, particularly in regions with limited transportation infrastructure where maintaining the cold chain is challenging. This paper addresses the use of drones to deliver vaccines to hard-to-reach populations using a novel optimization model to strategically design a multimodal vaccine distribution network. The model is illustrated in a case study for distributing routine childhood vaccines in Vanuatu, a South Pacific island nation with limited transportation infrastructure. Our research incorporates multiple drone types, recharging of drones, a cold chain travel time limit, transshipment delays for switching transport modes, …

The Role And Potential Of Trusted Change Agents And Freight Demand Management In Mitigating “Panic Buying” Shortages, José Holguín-Veras, Trilce Encarnación, Sofía Pérez-Guzmán, Víctor Cantillo, Oriana Calderón

Educator Preparation & Leadership Faculty Works

The goal of this research is to help develop effective freight demand management (FDM) programs to reduce the amounts of “panic buying” purchases. Such programs are indispensable because, as explained in the paper, in “panic buying” environments, supply chains are frequently unable to rapidly increase the amounts of critical supplies delivered to points of sales. Thus, reducing the demand is the only option to mitigate shortages. To reach this goal, this research assesses the potential of a novel FDM initiative that relies on Trusted Change Agents (TCAs) to convince individuals to limit their purchases of critical supplies, and outlines a …

Lean Accounting: A Connection To Strategic Partnership & Collaboration Between Management Accountants And Operations Managers, Colleen Mpofu

Dissertations

Technological advances, such as automation and artificial intelligence, have transformed the accounting profession. There is a consensus in the academic and practitioner literature that management accountants must move from their traditional role into one that serves as a strategic partner. However, literature that examines how management accountants have moved from this traditional role to one that is more strategic is limited. This study combines concepts from three different literature streams to explore how utilizing lean accounting practices relate to management accountant’s participation in strategic decision making, partnership with operations managers, and overall operational performance in manufacturing firms utilizing a lean …

Exploring The Influence Of Industry 4.0 Technology On Buyer-Supplier Relationships (Supplier Transparency) And Supply Chain Agility, Honey Zimmerman

Dissertations

Constantly evolving technologies enable supply chains around the world to thrive and become progressively more sophisticated and responsive. Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies connect supply chain networks like never before. Still, anecdotal evidence suggests that few firms have implemented such technologies enterprise-wide. Therefore, to investigate the value created from the implementation of such technology, the focus of this study was on buyer-supplier relationships (BSR) and firm supply chain agility (FSCA) in the context of I4.0 technologies. Using mixed methodologies within a single-case study, we set out to answer the research question: Does I4.0 technology influence buyer-supplier relationships and firm supply chain …

Forecasting Demand For Optimal Inventory With Long Lead Times: An Automotive Aftermarket Case Study, Chris Anderson

Dissertations

Accuracy in predicting customer demand is essential to building an economic inventory policy under periodic review, long lead-time, and a target fill rate. This study uses inventory and customer service level as a stock control metric to evaluate the forecast accuracy of different simple to more complex predictive analytical techniques. We show how traditional forecast error measures are inappropriate for inventory control, despite their consistent usage in many studies, by evaluating demand forecast performance dynamically with customer service level as a stock control metric that includes inventory holdings costs, stock out costs, and fill rate service levels. A second contribution …

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 …

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 …

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. …

Resources For Inventorying Plants In The Southeast Asian Tropics: Plans For The Future, J.S. Burley, P.F. Stevens, E.A. Wood

Biology Department Faculty Works

We aimed to cover two issues in this workshop; the third arose during the course of the discussion: 1. The need for an increased rate of collecting in the Southeast Asian tropical area (‘Malesia’ for short) if taxonomic decisions in the ‘Flora Malesiana’ and other taxonomic projects are to be soundly based and, more generally, if there are to be materials adequate for the future needs of taxonomy. 2. The likelihood that any attempt to increase collecting, or even simply to continue collecting at the present rate, without paying adequate attention to the distribution, mounting, and preservation of the specimens …