Operations and Supply Chain Management Commons^™

Can Contracts Replace Qualification In A Sourcing Process With Competitive Suppliers And Imperfect Information?, Yue Jin, Jennifer K. Ryan

Department of Supply Chain Management and Analytics: Faculty Publications

This paper considers a manufacturer who outsources the production of a product to multiple competing suppliers, who differ in their cost structures and in their capabilities for producing high-quality products. The manufacturer must design the sourcing process to ensure that the selected supplier has sufficient quality capability, while encouraging competition among the suppliers. We develop and analyze a mathematical model of performance-based contracting, a sourcing method that is appropriate when the manufacturer has imperfect information regarding the suppliers’ costs and capabilities. We compare the performance of performance-based contracting with that of a two-stage sourcing process, an alternative sourcing method that …

Resource Planning In Engineering Services Firms, Vincent Hargaden, Jennifer K. Ryan

Department of Supply Chain Management and Analytics: Faculty Publications

We develop a model to enable engineering professional services firms to improve the management of their competitive resources, i.e., skilled engineers, to be better able to respond to customer demand. The model was informed by semistructured interviews with senior executives from engineering, information technology (IT) services and technical consulting firms. As a result, we capture many of the complexities associated with the resource planning process in the professional engineering services sector. In the resulting model, the key attributes of supply, demand, and operations constraints are identified. Based on information obtained from the interviews, a number of test firms are created.We …

Two Stage Procurement Processes With Competitive Suppliers And Uncertain Supplier Quality, Yue Jin, Jennifer K. Ryan, Walter Yund

Department of Supply Chain Management and Analytics: Faculty Publications

This paper considers a sourcing problem faced by a manufacturer who outsources the manufacturing of a product to one of several competing suppliers, whose cost and quality capabilities are unknown. We consider a two-stage sourcing process in which the first stage is the qualification stage, while the second stage is the supplier selection stage. In the first stage, the manufacturer exerts effort to learn about the quality level of each of the suppliers and then must determine the set of qualified suppliers, subject to some tolerance for error. In the second stage, the manufacturer runs a price-only procurement auction, in …

Modeling Social Transmission Dynamics Of Unhealthy Behaviors For Evaluating Prevention And Treatment Interventions On Childhood Obesity, Leah M. Frerichs, Ozgur M. Araz, Terry T.-K. Huang

Department of Supply Chain Management and Analytics: Faculty Publications

Research evidence indicates that obesity has spread through social networks, but lever points for interventions based on overlapping networks are not well studied. The objective of our research was to construct and parameterize a system dynamics model of the social transmission of behaviors through adult and youth influence in order to explore hypotheses and identify plausible lever points for future childhood obesity intervention research. Our objectives were: (1) to assess the sensitivity of childhood overweight and obesity prevalence to peer and adult social transmission rates, and (2) to test the effect of combinations of prevention and treatment interventions on the …

Coordinating A Supply Chain With A Manufacturer-Owned Online Channel: A Dual Channel Model Under Price Competition, Jennifer K. Ryan, Daewon Sun, Xuying Zhao

Department of Supply Chain Management and Analytics: Faculty Publications

We consider a dual channel supply chain in which a manufacturer sells a single product to end-users through both a traditional retail channel and a manufacturer-owned direct online channel. We adopt a commonly used linear demand substitution model in which the mean demand in each channel is a function of the prices in each channel.We model each channel as a news vendor problem, with price and order quantity as decision variables. In addition, the manufacturer must choose the wholesale price to charge to the independent retailer. We analyze the optimal decisions for each channel and prove the existence of a …

Simulating School Closure Policies For Cost Effective Pandemic Decision Making, Ozgur M. Araz, Paul Damien, David A. Paltiel, Sean Burke, Bryce Van De Geijn, Alison Galvani, Lauren Ancel Meyers

Department of Supply Chain Management and Analytics: Faculty Publications

Background: Around the globe, school closures were used sporadically to mitigate the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic. However, such closures can detrimentally impact economic and social life.

Methods: Here, we couple a decision analytic approach with a mathematical model of influenza transmission to estimate the impact of school closures in terms of epidemiological and cost effectiveness. Our method assumes that the transmissibility and the severity of the disease are uncertain, and evaluates several closure and reopening strategies that cover a range of thresholds in school-aged prevalence (SAP) and closure durations.

Results: Assuming a willingness to pay per quality adjusted life-year (QALY) …

Virtues Of Sorghum: Utilization And Supply Chain Management, Lloyd W. Rooney

INTSORMIL Presentations

Discusses the consumer demands, value-added supply chain, strategy for value-added products, functionality of sorghums and millets, sorghum food use in Central America, plant breeding and improvement of grain quality, sorghum image, special sorghums as a particularly healthy food item, food utilization, improving sorghum quality, effect of molds, insects, and weathering on grain quality, and mycotoxins.

Interest Domination As A Framework For Exploring Channel Changes In Transitional Economies, Debra Dahab, James W. Gentry, Ravipreet S. Sohi

Department of Marketing: Faculty Publications

Changes in political and economic power can affect channel structures and decisions. Western channel models may not be useful for understanding the process of change in Central and East European transforming economies. This discussion suggests that channels in transforming economies may be controlled by groups or networks of people with mutual interests, a phenomenon the authors call interest domination. The article examines interest domination by managers, Communist cadres, and other party elite in two transforming economies and describes how structural and behavioral components of command economies might be conducive to interest domination of marketing channels. Propositions for explaining the political, …

Grain Transportation Problems In Nebraska: Causes And Cures [Proceedings Of The Nebraska Grain Transportation Seminar], Dale G. Anderson, Dean Linsenmeyer, Michael S. Turner

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

The Nebraska feed grain and soybean harvest of 1979 was one which will not soon be forgotten by those who participated in its production and marketing. Yields and production broke all previous records. Record export demands for the crop placed record service requirements on transportation and handling systems. Record movements of grain from farms to elevators and to inland and export terminals were reported. At the same time, complaints of inadequate capacity to store and transport the grain were perhaps also of all-time record proportions. Corn and milo accumulated in open piles on farms and at country collection points. Problems …

Economic Impact Of Railroad Branch-Line Abandonments: Results Of A Southcentral Nebraska Case Study, Dale G. Anderson, Floyd D. Gaibler, Mary Berglund

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

Some 249 miles of Nebraska rail line have been abandoned since 1963; another 310 miles are in contention at abandonment proceedings. The abandonment of these and other lines could have serious economic implications for grain elevators, farmers, and rural communities.

Track abandonment is occurring during a time of rapid expansion in the grain industry. U. S. corn and grain sorghum production increased more than 40 percent during the decade ending in 1973. Exports of these commodities increased 157 percent during the same period. Increases in grain production and exports, along with a shorter harvest season, are placing great strains on …

Mp25 The Problem Of Freight Car Supply, John Richard Felton

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

As early as 1907 the Interstate Commerce Commission held extensive hearings on freight car shortages. At frequent intervals ever since, Congress and the commission have addressed themselves to the problem of freight car supply with considerable vigor but meager results. Allegations of an inadequate supply of freight cars have been widespread in recent years. The decline in the number of freight cars is easy to document: between 1959 and 1968, the number of cars used in grain transport (boxcars and covered hopper cars) declined by 26%. If, however, consideration is given to changes in car capacity and car miles …