Operations and Supply Chain Management Commons^™

Stochastic Capacity Investment And Flexible Vs. Dedicated Technology Choice In Imperfect Capital Markets, Onur Boyabatli, L. Bertil Toktay

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper analyzes the impact of endogenous credit terms under capital market imperfections in a capacity investment setting. We model a monopolist firm that decides on its technology choice (flexible versus dedicated) and capacity level under demand uncertainty. Differing from the majority of the stochastic capacity investment literature, we assume that the firm is budget constrained and can relax its budget constraint by borrowing from a creditor. The creditor offers technology-specific loan contracts to the firm, after which the firm makes its technology choice and subsequent decisions. Capital market imperfections impose financing frictions on the firm. Our analysis contributes to …

Technical Note: Cellular Bucket Brigades, Yun Fong Lim

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Workers in a bucket brigade production system perform unproductive travel when they walk to get more work from their colleagues. We introduce a new design of bucket brigades to reduce unproductive travel. Under the new design, each worker works on one side of an aisle when he proceeds in one direction and works on the other side when he proceeds in the reverse direction. We propose simple rules for workers to share work under the new design and find a sufficient condition for the system to self-balance. Numerical examples suggest that the improvement in throughput by the new design can …

Tls Newsletter. Volume 6, Edition 3. November, 2011, Unf Transportation And Logistics Society

Transportation & Logistics Society Newsletter

Inside the Newsletter: TLS Trivia Night, Wednesday November 9th. TLS President's Corner Tom Branning. TLS Community--Hubbard House and Propeller Club. TLS Tidbits: Business/Networking cards. Get to Know TLS Secretary Paula Nelson. TLS on Tour: Anheuser-Busch Brewmaster. Life after Graduation with Claudia Gorham.

Cross-Cultural Validation Of The Factorial Structure Of A Logistics Strategy Model: A Three-Country Study, Michael A. Mcginnis, Talha Harcar, Ali Kara, John E. Spillan

Journal of Transportation Management

In 2011, McGinnis, Kohn, and Kara reported the effects of overall logisties strategy (OLS) on logistics coordination effectiveness, customer service effectiveness, and organizational competitive responsiveness. This manuscript empirically compares the three dimensions of the Bowersox Daugherty typology to logisties strategies among U.S., Turkish, and Guatemalan companies. US, Turkish, and Guatemalan subjects (logistics managers) were chosen to test the underlying factor structure and measurement equivalences of the scales used. Using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), findings indicate that the three dimensions of the Overall Logistics Strategy (OLS) - Process Strategy, Market Strategy, and Information Strategy - hold in all three country environments …

Ltl Pricing: Looking Back To The Future, C. Clifford Defee, Joe B. Hanna, Robert Overstreet

Journal of Transportation Management

Numerous LTL carriers struggled during the recent recession as customers demanded lower prices. This study is designed to qualitatively evaluate the data gathered from three industry segments regarding LTL pricing. Researchers used semi-structured interviews to conduct an in-depth investigation with over two dozen industry experts who represented shippers, carriers, and 3PLs. Interview transcripts were analyzed using a grounded theory coding technique. Five major themes emerged from the interview transcripts. These themes are used to describe possible future adjustments to industry pricing structure.

Concentration In The Airline Industry: Evidence Of Economies Of Scale?, Ahren Johnston, John Ozment

Journal of Transportation Management

The early experience of the airline industry under deregulation was very much as expected, with increased competition and new entrants offering highly competitive rates. However, there are approximately 130 airlines operating today, and the industry remains more heavily concentrated than it was prior to deregulation. This study reports on concentration in the US airline industry between 1970 and 2009, as measured by the Hcrfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) and Concentration Ratio, together with changes in industry costs. The results show a trend of industry-wide reduced costs per available seat mile that is negatively correlated with the increased level of industry output over …

A Commentary: The Perfect Storm: Schramm Decision, Fmcsa, And An Imposible Duty For Brokers And Third Party Logistics Companies, Paul Stewart

Journal of Transportation Management

Over the last thirty years, there never has been a more confused doctrine than the current “duty of reasonable care” faced by transportation brokers, third-party logistics companies and shippers as they select carriers for transport. The confusion in what was once reasonable and well understood law has been fueled by a perfect storm ofjudicial reasoning with misplaced reference to faulty empirical data, the complete failure of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to properly assess carrier safety worthiness, a feeding frenzy by the plaintiffs’ bar and apathy by many in the industry. The purpose of this commentary is to …

Competitive Advantage And Fuel Efficiency In Aviation, Adam D. Reiman, Alan W. Johnson, William A. Cunningham

Journal of Transportation Management

This paper builds upon a resource based view of competitive advantage under a dynamic capabilities construct. Fuel efficiency measurement in the aviation industry can be incorporated into dynamic capabilities such as strategic decision making and alliancing. These dynamic capabilities can drive operational cost reductions, which in-turn can enhance profitability and establish a competitive advantage. To further this advantage, fuel efficiency can be embedded inside an organizational culture. A fuel efficiency focused organizational culture can be a valuable, rare, inimitable and non- substitutable resource. This paper proposes a model to merge the dynamic capabilities of strategic decision making and alliancing with …

Tls Newsletter Volume 6, Edition 2. October, 2011, Unf Transportation And Logistics Society

Transportation & Logistics Society Newsletter

Inside the Newsletter: TLS General Meeting, Wednesday October 12. TLS President's Corner. Upcoming Events. TLS on Tour--Football Fanatics Distribution Center. In the Know: Selling your personal brand. Get to know Vice President, Joey Elkana. Life after Graduation with Marta Cylwik

Integrating Long-Term And Short-Term Contracting In Beef Supply Chains, Onur Boyabatli, Paul R. Kleindorfer, Stephen R. Koontz

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper analyzes the optimal procurement, processing, and production decisions of a meat-processing company (hereafter, a "packer") in a beef supply chain. The packer processes fed cattle to produce two beef products, program (premium) boxed beef and commodity boxed beef, in fixed proportions, but with downward substitution of the premium product for the commodity product. The packer can source input (fed cattle) from a contract market, where long-term contracts are signed in advance of the required delivery time, and from a spot market on the spot day. Contract prices are taken to be of a general window form, linear in …

Integrated Risk Management: A Conceptual Framework With Research Overview And Applications In Practice, Panos Kouvelis, Lingxiu Dong, Onur Boyabatli, Rong Li

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This chapter presents an action‐based supply chain risk management framework that has emerged from industry practice and academic research. For practitioners, this conceptual framework can serve as a guideline to devise risk management strategies that suit their specific supply chain environments. For academicians, one can map the research in the growing field of integrated risk management research within the context of this framework, and identify potentially fruitful directions for future research. The framework of supply chain risk management proposes a two‐stage action plan: a planning stage and an execution stage. Risk mitigation strategy has been the main focus of the …

Lean Manufacturing Initiatives, Anthony J. Jackson Prof

Anthony J Jackson Prof

The purpose of this research study is to analyze the factors that prevent small and medium size enterprises from implementing lean manufacturing processes and show, that by not implementing lean they are missing out on savings, efficient workforce, and new markets in the globalization arena. Globalization offers opportunities that have not been realized by SME’s yet still pose challenges and barriers that can be overcome by adoption and implementation of lean manufacturing.

Tls Newsletter Volume 6, Edition 1. September, 2011, Unf Transportation And Logistics Society

Transportation & Logistics Society Newsletter

Inside the Newsletter: Important Upcoming Events. TLS on Tour: Maxwell House Green Coffee Quality Lab and Dupuy Silo. Get to Know TLS Newsletter Editor William England. In the Know--Transportation and Logistics Fall Career Day. Life After Graduation with Mika Pitts.

The Newsvendor Problem: Review And Directions For Future Research, Yan Qin, Ruoxuan Wang, Asoo Vakharia, Yuwen Chen, Michelle Seref

Yuwen Chen

In this paper, we review the contributions to date for analyzing the newsvendor problem. Our focus is on examining the specific extensions for analyzing this problem in the context of modeling customer demand, supplier costs, and the buyer risk profile. More specifically, we analyze the impact of market price, marketing effort, and stocking quantity on customer demand; how supplier prices can serve as a coordination mechanism in a supply chain setting; integrating alternative supplier pricing policies within the newsvendor framework; and how the buyer’s risk profile moderates the newsvendor order quantity decision. For each of these areas, we summarize the …

Research On Inbound Logistics Strategy For Shanghai General Motors, Zhe Zou

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Marketing Model Of Freight Forwarding Basing On Information Technology, Yang Li

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Research And Development Project Valuation And Licensing Negotiations At Phytopharm Plc, Pascale Crama, Bert De Reyck, Zeger Degraeve, Wang Chong

Zeger Degraeve

We describe a research and development project-valuation model developed for Phytopharm plc, a pharmaceutical development and functional food company based in Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom. Phytopharm uses the model to value the projects in its research and development portfolio, and in licensing negotiations with potential product development and marketing partners. We include different valuation methods, including net present value, decision analysis, and Monte Carlo simulation. We also consider the technological risks of product development, as well as the uncertainty of commercial success. In addition to determining a value for a product in development, the model proposes appropriate licensing contract structures. A …

Milestone Payments Or Royalties? Contract Design For R&D Licensing, Pascale Crama, Bert De Reyck, Zeger Degraeve

Zeger Degraeve

We study how innovators can optimally design licensing contracts when there is incomplete information on the licensee's valuation of the innovation, and limited control over the licensee's development efforts. A licensing contract typically contains an up-front payment, milestone payments at successful completion of a project phase, and royalties on sales. We use principal-agent models to formulate the licensor's contracting problem, and we find that under adverse selection, the optimal contract structure changes with the licensee's valuation of the innovation. As the licensee's valuation increases, the licensor's optimal level of involvement in the development-directly or through royalties-should decrease. Only a risk-averse …

Isscm Graduating Cohort, August 2011, Raj Soin College Of Business, Wright State University

ISSCM Master Cohort Posters

No abstract provided.

Using Lean To Teach The Technical Services Value Stream: An Online Continuing Education Course, Tamera Hanken

Library Faculty Presentations

Lean Principles:

• Identify steps in the process that add customer defined value

• Identify waste in transportation, wait, overproduction, defect, inventory, motion, or extra processing

• Eliminate the steps in the process that don’t add value or are unnecessary

• Make sure the steps flow in an efficient sequence

• Establish pull, i.e., make sure the steps in the sequence don’t create bottlenecks

• Continue to improve the process

E-Textbooks: Is Now The Right Time?, Shu Z. Schiller

ISSCM Faculty Publications

Don’t be surprised when you see NOOK and iPads sitting along the side of books in campus bookstores this fall. Among numerous types of digital tools and technologies used in classrooms today, e-textbooks seem to be the next rising star. In the arena of higher education, educators have long been using digital materials and tools for teaching and learning. Many universities have adopted campus-wide online course management applications such as products from BlackBoard and Desire2Learn. Online meeting tools such as GoToMeeting, Elluminate, and Adobe Connect have now transformed the traditional delivery of teaching and lecturing to a synchronized, real-time interaction …

An Empirical Investigation Of Supply Chain Excellence In Healthcare, Brian Keith Smith

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research is motivated by opportunities to improve the cost and quality of healthcare delivery through improved supply chain processes. This research assesses the quality of the healthcare supply chain and identifies factors that are driving supply chain excellence among organizations in the healthcare industry. The first objective of this research is to assess the state of quality measurement in the healthcare supply chain. The achievement of this first objective is presented in Chapter 3 of this dissertation in the form of a manuscript accepted for publication in The Quality Management Journal. The second research objective is to develop …

Maritime Trade Evolutions And Port City Developments In Asia, X. J. Yang, Joyce M. W. Low, Loon Ching Tang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Historically, almost all goods transported worldwide have been carried by sea with the current estimate stands at approximately 90 percent by volume and 70 percent by worth. Maritime industry is an important economic sector as it has a direct impact on the prosperity of a region and/or city. This chapter presents a review on maritime trade evolution in Asia from the thirteenth centuries to the post-World War II, followed by an examination on the contemporary development of some major Asia ports. From the extant port literature, a list of factors affecting port competition and development is identified and reviewed. The …

Supply Chain Performance Of The Australian Beef Industry: Comparing The Industry Structure, Inter-Firm Relationships And Knowledge Systems Of Western Australia And Queensland, Mohammad Nasir Uddin,, Nazrul Islam, Mohammed Quaddus

Books & book chapters

The meat and livestock industry in Australia accounts for more than 45 per cent of Australia’s total value of agricultural production, within which beef is the largest industry in value terms (Nossal, Sheng and Zhao 2008). But the industry is experiencing a long-term decline in terms of trade, and has lagged behind other industries in rates of productivity improvement (MLA 2008). As it is critical for the economy that the beef industry maintains profitability and sustainability, it is believed that the performance, competitiveness and success of the industry depends on improving cost efficiency and productivity of the whole supply chain …

Optimal Investment Under Operational Flexibility, Risk Aversion, And Uncertainty, Michail Chronopoulos, Bert De Reyck, Afzal Siddiqui

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Traditional real options analysis addresses the problem of investment under uncertainty assuming a risk-neutral decision maker and complete markets. In reality, however, decision makers are often risk averse and markets are incomplete. We confirm that risk aversion lowers the probability of investment and demonstrate how this effect can be mitigated by incorporating operational flexibility in the form of embedded suspension and resumption options. Although such options facilitate investment, we find that the likelihood of investing is still lower compared to the risk-neutral case. Risk aversion also increases the likelihood that the project will be abandoned, although this effect is less …

Outpacing Moore’S Law: Information Technology’S Role As An Enabler, Kevin P. Duffy

ISSCM Faculty Publications

Technology is widely recognized as an enabler of business models. When the Web appeared in the 1990s, businesses redesigned the ways in which they interacted with their customers. They became global, rather than local, and the world represented an expanded customer base. While the Web has become a fact of life since the 1990s, technology has not lost its ability to introduce new ways of enabling organizations to provide and create value for their customers, as new and inventive ways of interacting with customers continue to appear.

Achieving The Air Force’S Energy Vision, Frederick G. Harmon, Richard D. Branam, Doral E. Sandlin

Faculty Publications

The US Air Force is the largest consumer of energy in the federal government, spending 9 billion in 2008 to fuel aircraft and ground vehicles as well as provide energy to installations.¹ In that same year, the Air Force s fuel bill of 7 billion amounted to more than half of the US government s total fuel cost.² Because of the critical and central role that energy plays in completion of the Air Force’s mission, the secretary of the Air Force has developed an Air Force energy plan supported by three pillars Reduce Demand, Increase Supply, and Culture …

Valuation Of Risky Projects And Other Illiquid Investments Using Portfolio Selection Models, Janne Gustafsson, Bert De Reyck, Zeger Degraeve, Ahti Salo

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We develop a portfolio selection framework for the valuation of projects and other illiquid investments for an investor who can invest in a portfolio of private, illiquid investment opportunities as well as in securities in financial markets, but who cannot necessarily replicate project cash flows using financial instruments. We demonstrate how project values can be solved using an inverse optimization procedure and prove several general analytical properties for project values. We also provide an illustrative example on the modeling and pricing of multiperiod projects that are characterized by managerial flexibility.

Mixed 0-1 Linear Programs Under Objective Uncertainty: A Completely Positive Representation, Karthik Natarajan, Chung-Piaw Teo, Zhichao Zheng

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In this paper, we analyze mixed 0-1 linear programs under objective uncertainty. The mean vector and the second moment matrix of the nonnegative objective coefficients is assumed to be known, but the exact form of the distribution is unknown. Our main result shows that computing a tight upper bound on the expected value of a mixed 0-1 linear program in maximization form with random objective is a completely positive program. This naturally leads to semidefinite programming relaxations that are solvable in polynomial time but provide weaker bounds. The result can be extended to deal with uncertainty in the moments and …

Resource Maps For Fresh Meat Across Retail And Wholesale Supply Chains, Peter Whitehead, Martin Palmer, Carlos Mena, Adrian Williams, Christine Walsh

Business Faculty Publications and Presentations

Consumers spend more money on meat than any other food item. WRAP has already shown that households are wasting around 570,000 tonnes of fresh meat each year, of which 260,000 (46%) is avoidable with a value of about £1,300M. These wasted products also include embedded water and embedded carbon. This research has focused on the supply of meat from the farm gate onwards, including livestock slaughtering, meat preparation, processing and packaging, distribution and retail. It focuses on fresh meat from the four animal species which comprise some 96% by weight of all animals slaughtered for human consumption, namely chickens, cattle, …