On Core Sorting in RMTS and RMTO Systems: A Newsvendor Framework

Variation in core condition and uncertainty in market demand pose great challenges for remanufacturers to match supply with demand. This article investigates a firm that acquires and remanufactures cores of multiple quality conditions to satisfy demand. Both remanufacturing‐to‐stock (RMTS) and remanufacturing‐to‐order (RMTO) systems are considered. In each system, a sorting operation that resolves the core conditions before remanufacturing may or may not be adopted, leading to four possible sorting/remanufacturing strategies: (1) no sorting in RMTS; (2) sorting in RMTS; (3) no sorting in RMTO; and (4) sorting in RMTO. Under each strategy, we derive the optimal decisions on the acquisition and remanufacturing quantities, in two scenarios, respectively: (i) all acquired cores are remanufacturable and (ii) some cores are non‐remanufacturable. We find that sorting can be completely useless to RMTS system, and thus should never be adopted regardless of the sorting cost. We provide the analytical condition under which this ineffectiveness of sorting occurs. Nevertheless, sorting is always useful to RMTO system and should be adopted when the sorting cost is below a threshold value. We also conduct an extensive numerical study and show that the effects of sorting to RMTO system are more significant than that to RMTS system.     

From QA to TQM

In the decade from 1950 to 1960, two quality-related processes--medical audit and total quality management--were being developed, one directly in the health care field and the other in the manufacturing sector. These processes remained isolated from each other until the mid-1980s. Each would have a separate but major effect on the health care industry.     

从先行者到主导者

上个世纪80年代,蓝里集团总经理任建新及其团队开拓了中国的工业清洗市场。随后,蓝星以整合者的姿态进入化工新材料行业.成为新格局中的领航者。2005年后,蓝星通过三次大规模的跨国并购,奠定了自己在化工新材料行业的主导者地位。在机会、资源和能力共同推动的企业成长过程中,蓝星集团成长的战略逻辑跃然纸上。     

From packing rules to cost-sharing mechanisms

Journal of Combinatorial Optimization - Bin packing is one of the most fundamental problems in resource allocation. Most research on the classical bin packing problem has focused on the design and...     

管理: 从系统性到复杂性

人们对管理从“简单的”向“复杂的”认知, 开始于感性直觉上的体验, 并逐渐向揭示本质属性的理性思维深化.本文基于现代科学技术体系的层次框架, 构建了系统科学与管理科学各自标识性概念之间的相互映射.在系统科学思维下, 系统性是一切管理活动的属性, 任何管理活动既是系统的实践, 也是实践的系统.随着人类社会的发展, 管理实践与本质属性在整体上均呈现出从系统性到复杂性的演变趋势.复杂整体性已是各种复杂管理形态的重要起因和深刻内涵, 这是在当今管理领域实现多学科融合, 破解复杂性难题重要的实践逻辑与理论逻辑.     

From Knowledge Engineering to Knowledge Management

Knowledge management is seen by many to be a prerequisite for the successful organization, and one that relies heavily, though not exclusively, on a sound technological infrastructure. A major drawback, though, with current technology (e.g. Lotus Notes and www) is its focus on information management and communication rather than on knowledge itself. What knowledge management needs is tools and techniques that are more oriented towards knowledge – its creation, mapping, transfer and use. We show how many of the methods and tools used in the branch of artificial intelligence known as knowledge engineering can be adapted to provide such a knowledge-oriented technology, and lead to significant benefits for organizations. A number of case studies are presented which illustrate our points, including decision-making at Andersen Consulting and best practice at Rolls-Royce. A more elaborated use is shown in the context of business process re-engineering, where a new software tool kit called SPEDE is being applied and validated within the aerospace and automotive industries.     

从神经经济学和神经营销学到神经管理学

神经科学是20世纪最重要的科学之一,随着脑成像和脑电测量技术的日益成熟,近年来在心理学、社会学、经济学、管理学等领域的应用与交叉融合取得了重要的发展.本文介绍了21世纪出现在经济与管理领域中的两个重要的、与神经科学交叉发展的学科:神经经济学和神经营销学.从它们的发展以及最新的研究成果来看,两者虽然同采用神经科学方法,都是研究个体行为的脑活动,却受各自学科研究方法的影响,表现出较大的差异.进而,本文分析了神经科学引入管理科学的可行途径,提出了神经管理学的概念及其主要的可能发展的方面,提出神经科学对管理科学的交叉,其将引起管理科学的革命性的发展,开创新的广阔的研究领域.     

From quality assurance to continuous quality improvement

To change from punitive and legalistic QA to positive and productive CQI, both attitudes and methods must change. This is a difficult challenge, but potential rewards for both the organization and its individual members suggest that the effort is worthwhile and deserves high priority. Members of the executive/management team will likely turn to physician executives for guidance on how to proceed.     

Quality circles: From introduction to integration

As part of a Manpower Services Commision project on the development of quality circles, a study of four manufacturing companies using quality circles for over 4 years has been carried out. The reasons for introducing a circle programme, the operating problems and the changes which occured over the years are discussed. The findings indicate that circle programmes no matter how successful will always face obstacles during the various stages from introduction through to maturity; there is no magic formula for success. The suggestion is made that a circle programme has a life cycle with the phases of introduction, establishment and growth, maturity and consolidation, and integration and dynamism.     

From genes to minds to cultures: Evolutionary approaches to leadership

Evolutionary perspectives are part of any comprehensive explanation of leadership and, more generally, hierarchy formation in groups. This editorial describes contributions to a special issue on the theme of “The evolution and biology of leadership: A new synthesis”, and we reach four main conclusions. First, leadership has been a powerful force in the biological and cultural evolution of human sociality. Humans have evolved a range of cognitive and behavioral mechanisms (adaptations) that facilitate leader-follower relations, including safeguards against overly dominant leaders. Second, how these adaptations interact with local ecological and cultural contexts produces cultural variation in leadership preferences, and in the structure of human organizations more broadly. Third, an evolutionary perspective creates consilience between the social and natural sciences, by integrating leadership theory from diverse fields such as biology, psychology, neuroscience, anthropology, economics, and political science. Fourth, evolutionary approaches – and specifically the collection of articles in this theme issue – produce and test novel hypotheses, such as regards (i) the critical role of leadership in cooperation, (ii) the importance of contextual factors in leader emergence and effectiveness, (iii) interactions between genetic and cultural influences on leadership, and (iv) obstacles and opportunities for women leaders.     

From Fragmentation to Comprehensiveness in Network Governance

Public networks are increasingly implemented at different government levels and across policy areas to increase coordination of services, decision-making and services delivery. Network governance is one promising theoretical perspective through which networks have been studied by different scholars and schools of thought. However, the literature on network governance is still fragmented, sectorial and issues-based. An overarching framework for the comprehensive analysis of the accumulate knowledge is missing. To address this limitation, we propose a comprehensive framework for analyzing the development of the findings in the field. The framework includes four building blocks that reflect the main issues debated in literature: the conditions affecting the choice of a mode of network governance, the modes of network governance, the dimensions of meta-governance and the outcome evaluation. The framework would support academics and policy makers who deal with network governance in different policy domains. The article concludes with a discussion of the proposed framework and its applications in future research.     

Regulating Chemicals—From Risks to Riskiness

Under current European Union legislation, action to restrict the production and use of a chemical is only justified if there is evidence that the chemical poses a risk to human health or the environment. Risk is understood as being a matter of the magnitude and probability of specifiable harms. An examination of how risks from chemicals are assessed shows the process to be fraught with uncertainty, with the result that evidence that commands agreement as to whether a chemical poses a risk or not is often not available. Hence the frequent disputes as to whether restrictions on chemicals are justified. Rather than trying to assess the risks from a chemical, I suggest that we should aim to assess how risky a chemical is in a more everyday sense, where riskiness is a matter of the possibility of harm. Risky chemicals are those where, given our state of knowledge, it is possible that they cause harm. I discuss four things that make a chemical more risky: (1) its capacity to cause harm; (2) its novelty; (3) its persistence; and (4) its mobility. Regulation of chemicals should aim to reduce the production and use of risky chemicals by requiring that the least risky substance or method is always used for any particular purpose. Any use of risky substances should be justifiable in terms of the public benefits of that use.     

From food to freezers to freight,marketing is vital

This article considers the ways in which marketing techniques can be used to achieve company objectives in the industrial sector. Marketing disciplines are critical to the future success of the industrial and service environment and there is a constant need to maintain their relevance and their credibility in fast changing, low margin businesses. Experience with the privatized National Freight Consortium is used to illustrate the argument.