The Impact of Product Lifecycle on Capacity Planning of Closed‐Loop Supply Chains with Remanufacturing

Product recovery operations in reverse supply chains face rapidly changing demand due to the increasing number of product offerings with reduced lifecycles. Therefore, capacity planning becomes a strategic issue of major importance for the profitability of closed‐loop supply chains. This work studies a closed‐loop supply chain with remanufacturing and presents dynamic capacity planning policies developed through the methodology of System Dynamics. The key issue of the paper is how the lifecycles and return patterns of various products affect the optimal policies regarding expansion and contraction of collection and remanufacturing capacities. The model can be used to identify effective policies, to conduct various “what‐if” analyses, and to answer questions about the long‐term profitability of reverse supply chains with remanufacturing. The results of numerical examples with quite different lifecycle and return patterns show how the optimal collection expansion/contraction and remanufacturing contraction policies depend on the lifecycle type and the average usage time of the product, while the remanufacturing capacity expansion policy is not significantly affected by these factors. The results also show that the collection and remanufacturing capacity policies are insensitive to the total product demand. The insensitivity of the optimal policies to total demand is a particularly appealing feature of the proposed model, given the difficulty in obtaining accurate demand forecasts.     

Reconfiguring the Supply Network Using Current Performance Data

Reconfiguration of the supply chain network from time to time is essential for businesses to retain their competitive edge. This paper presents a methodology for reconfiguration of an existing supply chain network. The methodology is characterized by two decision levels. In the first level, the current network performance is evaluated and efficient practices are identified. In the next level, a model that incorporates efficient practices is developed to reconfigure the network. This integrated methodology allows for decision maker (DM) input throughout the process. The methodology has been implemented and tested in the reconfiguration of an outbound petroleum supply chain network for CountryMark Cooperative, Inc. In this case study, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is used to analyze current operations and an integer programming (IP) model that incorporates efficiency metrics is developed for selection of distribution facilities and allocation of resources to the facilities. Use of this methodology can lead to improved operations and reduced operating expenses.     

Benchmarking firm performance from a multiple-stakeholder perspective with an application to Chinese banking

We know very little about how a firm would compare against its peers when evaluated from a multiple-stakeholder perspective where the same variables are interpreted differently. Since most medium-to-large organizations acknowledge the multi-dimensional nature of their operations, finding out the performance evaluations of various stakeholders can inform managerial decision-making. Thus, the main motivation for this study is to capture the interactions among different perceptions on a common set of performance measures. Using data envelopment analysis (DEA), we work with an approach that allows a flexible designation of inputs and outputs based on varying perspectives of five key stakeholders in banking. The versatile approach demonstrates that different views from the stakeholder universe can be summarily captured in DEA scores. A numerical example on Chinese commercial banks identifies the compliant (efficient) banks versus rigid (inefficient) banks, as well as the amenable stakeholders (those evaluating banks as efficient) versus the recalcitrant stakeholders (those evaluating banks as inefficient). The aligned views held by management and shareholders as evidenced by significant correlation among performance rankings imply reduced agency costs. Similarly, shared perceptions between customers and employees may encourage management to examine how this important business interface can be improved.     

Supply Chain Models with Mutual Commitments and Implications for Social Responsibility

In today's increasingly globalized environment, more and more companies recognize the mutual dependence of supply chain partners in value creation. When making business decisions, they take into consideration their partners’ bottom line profitability, especially in emerging markets. The question is, is this kind of practice sustainable? This study makes an attempt to formalize this issue by examining a stylized two‐party supply chain model in which each player maximizes its own profit while making a certain commitment to its partner. We compare five different games between the two supply‐chain partners, which reflect different power positions of the players and different levels of commitment. We identify conditions under which both players are better off with mutual commitments than without, a situation we call win–win. We show that win–win can be achieved if and only if the mutual commitments are comparable. Thus, the recognition of mutual dependence of the supply chain members needs to be translated into reciprocal concerns. In addition, different players’ commitments play different roles but together they have a similar effect as a profit sharing contract. Finally, we discuss the implications of our findings in the context of socially responsible operations. In particular, our analyses show that it is possible to care about the supply chain partners’ bottom line without sacrificing one's own profitability, and our models can be used as a tool to determine the commitment levels by evaluating the predicted outcome.     

金融监管对商业银行产品创新影响——基于两阶段DEA模型的研究

以金融监管为视角,从银监会政策发布到各商业银行设计理财产品产生收益,其政策效应过程是有衔接分阶段性的。本文运用两阶段的数据包络分析(Data Envelopment Analysis, DEA)方法,将监管环境下银行理财产品的运营过程分为创新产品设计与创新产品市场表现两个阶段,得到了2004年至2014年间我国银行业的创新效率,结果显示第一阶段的银行业产品创新效率和第二阶段的理财产品市场表现效率基本上呈现出正相关的关系,且金融监管对商业银行产品创新的影响效果有一定的滞后性。此外,通过计算出历年银行业创新效率投入指标的改进值,找出了效率非有效的年份与最佳效率的年份在投入产出上的差距,并从监管者的角度和银行操作层面为针对银行产品创新的监管改进提供了政策建议。     

Optimal Coordination in Distributed Software Development

The construction of a software system requires not only individual coding effort from team members to realize the various functionalities, but also adequate team coordination to integrate the developed code into a consistent, efficient, and bug‐free system. On the one hand, continuous coding without adequate coordination can cause serious system inconsistencies and faults that may subsequently require significant corrective effort. On the other hand, frequent integrations can be disruptive to the team and delay development progress. This tradeoff motivates the need for a good coordination policy. Both the complexity and the importance of coordination is accentuated in distributed software development (DSD), where a software project is developed by multiple, geographically‐distributed sub‐teams. The need for coordination in DSD exists both within one sub‐team and across different sub‐teams. The latter type of coordination involves communication across spatial boundaries (different locations) and possibly temporal boundaries (different time zones), and is a major challenge that DSD faces. In this study, we model both inter‐ and intra‐sub‐team coordination in DSD based on the characteristics of the systems being developed by the sub‐teams, the deadline for completion, and the nature of division adopted by the sub‐teams with respect to development and integration activities. Our analysis of optimal coordination policies in DSD shows that integration activities by one sub‐team not only benefit that sub‐team (as is the case in co‐located development) but can also help the other sub‐teams by providing greater visibility, thereby resulting in a higher integration frequency relative to co‐located development. Analytical results are presented to demonstrate how the characteristics of the projects and the sub‐teams, and the efficiency of communication across the sub‐teams, affect coordination and productivity. We also investigate the pros and cons of using specialized integration sub‐teams and find that their advantage decreases as the project schedule becomes tighter. Decentralized decisions and asymmetric subsystems are also discussed.     

Efficiency measures of the Chinese commercial banking system using an additive two-stage DEA

Measuring and improving the efficiency of the Chinese commercial banking system has recently attracted increasing interest. Few studies, however, have adopted the two-stage network DEA to explore this issue in the Chinese context. Because the entire operational process of the banking system could be divided into two sub-processes (deposit producing and profit earning), the evaluation of the sub-process efficiencies could be used to assist in identifying the sources of the inefficiency of the entire banking system. In this study, we utilize the network DEA approach to disaggregate, evaluate and test the efficiencies of 16 major Chinese commercial banks during the third round of the Chinese banking reform period (2003–2011) with the variable returns to scale setting and the consideration of undesirable/bad output. The main findings of this study are as follows: (i) the two-stage DEA model is more effective than the conventional black box DEA model in identifying the inefficiency of banking system, and the inefficiency of the Chinese banking system primarily results from the inefficiency of its deposit producing sub-process; (ii) the overall efficiency of the Chinese banking system improves over the study period because of the reform; (iii) the state-owned commercial banks (SOBs) appear to be more overall efficient than the joint-stock commercial banks (JSBs) only in the pre-reform period, and the efficiency difference between the SOBs and the JSBs is reduced over the post-reform period; (iv) the disposal of non-performing loans (NPLs) from the Chinese banking system in general explains its efficiency improvement, and the joint-equity reform of the SOBs specifically increases their efficiencies.     

Supply Chain Management of Fresh Products with Producer Transportation*

This article considers a class of fresh‐product supply chains in which products need to be transported by the upstream producer from a production base to a distant retail market. Due to high perishablility a portion of the products being shipped may decay during transportation, and therefore, become unsaleable. We consider a supply chain consisting of a single producer and a single distributor, and investigate two commonly adopted business models: (i) In the “pull” model, the distributor places an order, then the producer determines the shipping quantity, taking into account potential product decay during transportation, and transports the products to the destination market of the distributor; (ii) In the “push” model, the producer ships a batch of products to a distant wholesale market, and then the distributor purchases and resells to end customers. By considering a price‐sensitive end‐customer demand, we investigate the optimal decisions for supply chain members, including order quantity, shipping quantity, and retail price. Our research shows that both the producer and distributor (and thus the supply chain) will perform better if the pull model is adopted. To improve the supply chain performance, we propose a fixed inventory‐plus factor (FIPF) strategy, in which the producer announces a pre‐determined inventory‐plus factor and the distributor compensates the producer for any surplus inventory that would otherwise be wasted. We show that this strategy is a Pareto improvement over the pull and push models for both parties. Finally, numerical experiments are conducted, which reveal some interesting managerial insights on the comparison between different business models.     

Performance measurement with classification information: an enhanced additive DEA model

This paper presents an improved measurement tool for evaluating performance of branches within a major Canadian bank. While there have been numerous previous studies of performance in the banking industry, particularly at the branch level, this study is different in a very significant way: specifically two kinds of data are used to develop the model. The first type of data is that related to standard transactions, available from any bank; such have formed the basis of numerous previous studies. The second type of data, obtained from the site studied, is classification information, based on branch consultant/expert judgment as to good and poor performance of branches. The purpose herein is to present a modified version of an existing benchmarking model, data envelopment analysis (DEA), and to show how this tool is applied in the banking industry. The mechanism used herein to incorporate expert knowledge within the DEA framework is to first apply a discriminant or classification tool, to quantify the functional relation that best captures the expert's mental model for performance. The outcome of this first phase is an orientation of variables to aid in the definition of inputs and outputs. The resulting orientation then defines the DEA model that makes up the second phase of the model.     

Complexity and Self‐Sustainment in Disaster Response Supply Chains

Governmental organizations play a major role in disaster relief operations. Supply chains set up to respond to disasters differ dramatically in many dimensions that affect the cost of relief efforts. One factor that has been described recently is self‐sustainment, which occurs when supplies consumed by intermediate stages of a supply chain must be provided via the chain itself because they are not locally available. This article applies the concept of self‐sustainment to response supply chains. A mathematical model of a self‐sustaining response supply chain is developed. Analysis of this model yields insights about the relationships and interactions among self‐sustainment, speed of disaster onset, dispersion of impact, and the cost of the relief efforts.     

回收模式相异的零售商主导型闭环供应链竞争模型研究

随着经济全球化的推进，同行业竞争已逐渐由企业间的竞争转化为供应链间的竞争。在此背景下，本文围绕MR、MT和RT三种相异的回收模式组合，构建了两条零售商主导型闭环供应链的竞争博弈模型，运用逆向归纳法得到三种回收模式组合下各条链的均衡价格、回收率、渠道成员利润、单条链利润与双链总利润，然后结合链间竞争强度将不同回收模式组合的结果进行比较，研究表明：（1）在三种回收模式组合下，链间竞争强度的增加将使批发价、零售价与回收率均提高，市场需求量增大，各渠道成员的收益均得到改善，但却损害了消费者利益；（2）MR与MT组合下四条链的产品售价、单链回收率、制造商利润、零售商利润与单链总利润排序均与链间竞争强度无关，而RT组合两条链的变量均衡解、利润与MR、MT组合的数量关系与链间竞争强度密切相关；（3）对于两条竞争性闭环供应链的任一条链，若其竞争链是制造商回收链（零售商回收链），则在选择相异回收模式时，从整条链利润视角其应形成零售商回收链（制造商回收链）；若其竞争链是第三方回收链，当双链竞争不是极为剧烈时，其应形成制造商回收链，否则应形成零售商回收链；（4）当链间竞争较平稳时，MR组合的双链总利润优于MT组合和RT组合；随着双链竞争强度的增加，RT组合的双链总利润将依次超过MT组合与MR组合；当链间竞争特别激烈时，MR组合甚至低于MT组合。故链间竞争强度的增加对RT组合两条链具有最显著的积极影响，而对MR组合的影响则较为有限。本文研究不仅拓展了闭环供应链竞争理论，而且能够为现实中处于链与链竞争环境下的企业选择合理的回收模式提供理论支持。     

矩阵型网络DEA模型及其实证检验

针对传统DEA模型无法有效的评价矩阵型网络系统的效率,本文构建了矩阵型网络决策单元的生产可能集,建立了矩阵型网络DEA模型。在此基础上证明了决策单元在矩阵型网络DEA模型下为弱DEA有效的充分必要条件为其每个子系统均为弱DEA有效。最后,选用美国的十个电力公司作为决策单元对模型进行实证检验,得出结论:矩阵型网络DEA模型弥补了传统DEA模型无法反映内部有效性从而可能得到错误结果的缺陷,并能精确地计算出各个子过程的效率,辨识出具体需要改进的子过程。同时新模型为评价复杂系统的效率提供了新的思路。     

政府激励政策下人造板绿色供应链谈判-协调机制研究

当前我国人造板产业面临效率低下、资源浪费和环境污染等问题,上下游企业缺乏合作与协调。本文界定了人造板绿色供应链系统,运用契约理论和纳什谈判理论,分别构建了政府激励政策下人造板绿色供应链集中优化决策、分散均衡决策和谈判协调决策模型,从而建立了相应的收益分享-成本分担契约谈判协调机制,并基于相关行业和企业经验数据,与传统人造板供应链进行了对比数值分析。研究结果表明:(1)收益分享-成本分担契约谈判-协调机制能够很好地实现人造板绿色供应链的协调运营,提高资源效率,降低环境负影响和提升运营绩效。(2)人造板绿色供应链管理模式下供应链及其成员的最优利润均高于传统管理模式,谈判协调决策情形下供应链及其成员的最优利润均高于分散均衡决策情形。(3)制定有"门槛"的增值税即征即退政策和适当的环境税政策,自建经济林场、选用经济型枝桠材,强化技术研发和工艺改进,有助于提高人造板供应链运营绩效。     

基于多种DEA模型和Gini准则的效率评价方法——兼对我国高校运营绩效的评价

针对多种数据包络分析（Data Envelopment Analysis,简称DEA）模型会产生不同绩效评价结果的问题,提出基于Gini准则科学地融合各DEA模型结果的方法。首先基于Gini准则定义信息纯度以衡量各DEA模型结果的确定性并赋予权重,然后通过加权融合最终得出客观唯一的综合效率。此外,根据评价者的偏好信息或先验知识,进一步提出交互式多DEA模型-Gini准则方法。以前学者仅从单一角度出发选择DEA模型评价高校的运营绩效,考虑到从不同角度出发的多种DEA模型可以给出高校更加全面客观的运营绩效评价,利用以上方法对2011年国内25所理工类高校的运营绩效进行了实证分析,结果验证了以上方法可以合理有效的衡量各高校的运营绩效表现,对于高校运营绩效的评价研究具有实际指导意义。     

供应链中CSR运作:相互激励、CSR配置与合作

基于Baron为代表的战略CSR观点和一条由上游制造商和下游零售商构成的两级供应链,用制造商和零售商是否被要求实施CSR行为来描述供应链中的CSR配置,分别建立求解了三种CSR配置下的三阶段非合作运作模型。相应的均衡社会业绩和经济业绩之间的比较结果表明,在消费者对供应链中的CSR行为具有积极反应的条件下,由于制造商和零售商的CSR行为之间的策略性互补性导致的相互激励机制,使得“制造商和零售商各自为自己的CSR行为负责”这一CSR配置获得的经济业绩和社会业绩均较高。进一步,合作运作下的Nash讨价还价解显示,由于合作的运作方式可以克服非合作运作中存在于产品交易阶段的双重加价的问题和CSR策略性行为互动阶段的CSR行为动机不足问题,从而可以进一步提高社会业绩和经济业绩。这些结果一方面为解决"哪个节点企业应当对供应链整体的社会责任行为负责"这一争议提供了一个理论回应;另一方面,指出供应链中的CSR行为的管理,重点不是CSR在供应链中如何配置,而在于是否采用合作的运作方式。     

Coordinating Production and Marketing with Dynamic Transfer Prices

Decentralized decision making is a fact in the modern business world accompanied by extensive research that looks into its consequences for overall firm profits. We study the interactions of decentralized marketing and operations divisions in a corporation and explore their impact on overall firm profits in the case with and without coordination of the two decentralized units. We assume that the marketing department is responsible for the price that influences the demand (sales), and the operations department is responsible for the production rate. We allow for backlogging over time. We model the interdependence involving marketing and operations decisions as a non‐cooperative differential game, with the two divisions as strategically interacting players. We find that, without coordination, strategic interactions of marketing and production result in inefficiencies that can quantitatively be substantial. Next, we introduce a dynamic transfer pricing scheme as a coordination device and evaluate if it establishes efficient (first best and fully coordinated) outcomes. We show that if production and marketing play a game with pre‐commitment strategies, there exists a dynamic transfer price that efficiently (fully) coordinates decentralized decision making and hence results in Pareto‐efficient company profits. If the two decentralized divisions play a game without pre‐commitment, dynamic transfer prices can partially coordinate decentralized decision making but fail to fully eliminate overall inefficiencies arising from strategic interactions among decentralized divisions.     

非合作博弈两阶段生产系统DEA并购效率评价

如何选择并购对象及预测并购可行性是企业管理者在并购决策过程中常面临的问题。针对企业并购预测问题,本文以两阶段生产系统的决策单元为研究对象,研究数据包络分析方法在预测并购可行性方面的应用。该生产系统有两个明显的特点:(1)决策单元由两个阶段串行子系统构成,(2)两个子系统一个处于主导地位,而另一个处于从属地位。两个或者两个以上决策单元并购为一个虚拟决策单元。本文在分析由决策单元整体效率与其子系统效率之间关系的基础上,引入非合作博弈的思想,提出了基于非合作博弈的DEA模型评估虚拟决策单元两阶段生产系统的并购效率:即在保持现有的产出水平和生产效率的前提下,分别求解虚拟决策单元及其子系统的并购效率,分析虚拟决策单元如何通过两个子系统实现整个系统的成本节约。最后,将模型应用于台湾24家非寿险保险公司的仿真分析。由于文章提出的方法能够有效地分析虚拟决策单元内部子系统的并购有效性水平,同时考虑子系统之间的主从关系,因此,能够发掘影响虚拟决策单元并购效率的内部因素,因而能够为管理者并购决策提供更精确有效的管理信息,提高并购决策的科学性。     

Quality Management in Multi‐Level Supply Chains with Outsourced Manufacturing

Outsourcing stretches supply chains longer with added contract manufacturers responsible for the manufacturing of parts and final products. Should a firm change its quality management approach as its supply chain becomes longer with outsourced manufacturing? This paper studies a brand owner's optimal choice between two commonly used quality management approaches: an inspection‐based approach and an external failure‐based approach, in two supply chains – a dyadic supply chain and a multi‐level supply chain where the brand owner outsources manufacturing to an independent contract manufacturer. Our study finds that the brand owner's optimal choice between the two quality management approaches could be opposite in the two supply chains. Specifically, we show that if agency costs exist between the contract manufacturer and the brand owner, the brand owner may prefer an inspection‐based approach in the multi‐level supply chain in contrast to preferring an external failure‐based approach in the dyadic supply chain. In particular, inspections can be effective for the brand owner to limit the manufacturer's profit by excluding defective finished products and components, which in turn reduce agency costs in the multi‐level supply chain. Hence, the efficiency of an inspection‐based approach relative to an external failure‐based approach can be higher in the multi‐level supply chain as compared to the dyadic one. Our findings suggest that firms should adjust to changes in supply chain structures and re‐evaluate the efficiencies of different quality management approaches accordingly.     

Ranking efficient units in DEA

Super-efficiency data envelopment analysis (DEA) model can be used in ranking the performance of efficient decision making units (DMUs). Because of the infeasibility problem associated with the super-efficiency DEA model, ranking has been restricted to the model where constant returns to scale and proportional changes in all inputs or all outputs are assumed. In fact, when super-efficiency is used as an efficiency stability measure, infeasibility means the highest super-efficiency. However, if super-efficiency is interpreted as input saving or output surplus achieved by a specific efficient DMU, infeasibility does not necessarily mean the highest super-efficiency. In order to obtain a complete ranking of efficient DMUs when the two assumptions are relaxed, a modified super-efficiency DEA model is proposed to overcome the infeasibility problem and to correctly capture the super-efficiency represented by the input saving or the output surplus. The current paper suggests using both input- and output-oriented super-efficiency models to characterize the super-efficiency when infeasibility occurs. As a result, we can rank the efficient DMUs if infeasibility occurs. The approach is applied to 20 largest Japanese companies and 15 US cities, respectively.     

How Sourcing of Interdependent Components Affects Quality in Automotive Supply Chains

In the automotive industry, many firms source key components from different suppliers, even though the components may function interdependently. In this study, we investigate how component level interdependence impacts quality performance and analyze how various operational factors moderate this relation. We synthesize information from several case studies to model the quality challenges faced by an automotive firm. For several sub‐assemblies that go into its products, the firm sourced key components from two different suppliers. The sub‐assemblies would fail whenever a component fails, but due to interdependent operations, failure of one component could cause the failure of the other. The firm found it challenging to improve the suppliers' quality performance as it was difficult to trace the failures to specific components. Our analysis reveals that – (i) the impact of interdependence is governed by the supply chain structure: reducing the interdependence between components improves quality when suppliers provide the components, but reducing interdependence worsens quality when the firm manufactures the entire sub‐assembly; and (ii) the relation between interdependence and quality performance is moderated by factors such as penalties, production costs, and interdependence costs. Additionally, we find that quality performance is lower when the firm outsources the components than when the firm manufactures the entire sub‐assembly. We identify coordinating mechanisms that leverage incentives and penalties to bridge the quality performance gap.