A pro-active and collaborative approach to reverse logistics—a case study

Reverse logistics is considered to be the key for re-manufacturing and sustainable development. It has gained increasing attention in the last decade and has been a new frontier of strategic management. One of the driving forces for firms to adopt the reverse logistics practice is cost saving from reverse logistics activities. Another motivation to put reverse logistics forward is probably due to environmental impacts on non-returnable materials. Reverse logistics, however, may require cooperation of more than one company and hence it is generally poorly managed due to self-interest of different companies. Therefore, a pro-active and collaborative approach to reverse logistics is demanded. This paper reports a case study of using returnable packaging materials between a manufacturer and an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) supplier. A cross-company team was established to pursue the goal of the reverse logistics project. Tangible and intangible benefits of reverse logistics from this case study are presented in this paper.     

A causal model for supply chain partner’s commitment

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relations of information, organisation and environment on the supply chain partner’s commitment using data from the auto parts industries listed in the Taiwan External Trade Development Council. Low levels of environmental uncertainty within the context of supply chain relationships with higher levels of intraorganisational facilitators and interorganisational relationships will have influence on the level of information sharing, quality and availability. As expected, it was found that there is a positive relationship between the level of information sharing, quality and availability, and the level of trust. Additionally, it was also found that there is a positive relationship between levels of trust and commitment in supply chain relationships.     

Identifying design criteria for urban system ‘last-mile’ solutions – a multi-stakeholder perspective

Abstract

This study presents a novel approach to design and evaluate ‘last-mile’ solutions – encompassing the social and economic perspectives of key stakeholders. While urban system initiatives have been implemented in practice, theoretical gaps remain at the operational design level. A theoretical framework is developed, based on design criteria identified from a critical synthesis of supply chain and operations management literature, and ‘operationalised’ using an in-depth case study demonstrating implementation of a Consumer Choice Portal-Package Consolidation Centre solution, within a densely populated urban geography. Findings suggest that there is a need to re-define the role of institutional actors beyond that of the traditional governance task, to one of being able to facilitate performance outcomes. Similarly, industrial efficiency dimensions need to be reorientated to include consumer participation, social considerations and multi-stakeholder service outcomes. Finally, implications for operations theory and practising managers in city logistics are highlighted, with suggested directions for future research.     

A new model for successful management of engineering design firms — “superpositioning”

A SuperPositioning model for successful management of engineering design firms is discussed which allows firms to be categorized within a matrix bounded by two primary drivers, their engineering Design Techology (how they do their work) and their Values (the primary reward thrusts or motivations of the owners). Technologies are separated into Strong Idea (Brains), Strong Service (Gray Hair) and Strong Delivery (Routine Procedure). Values are divided between Practice Centered Business and Business Centered Practice.The firm's Design Technology affects the optimal way it should handle Project Design, Project Decision Making, Middle and Lower Level Staffing, Markets, What it Sells, What it Can Charge, and Best Management Style. Its choice of Values impacts the Organization Structure, Organization Decision-Making, Staffing at the Top, How it Markets, Best Clients, Marketing Organization, Profit Strategy, Reward and Management Style. Firms that optimize their strategies for these elements to match their choice of drivers are observed to perform better for their clients and in terms of their owner's satisfaction.     

Testing Klein and Sorra’s innovation implementation model: An empirical examination

Despite a substantial volume of research activities on innovation implementation [Holahan, P.J., Aronson, Z.H., Jurkat, M.P., Schoorman, F.D., 2004. Implementing computer technology: a multiorganizational test of Klein and Sorra’s model. Journal of Engineering and Technology Management 21 (1), 31–50; Klein, K.J., Sorra, J.S., 1996. The challenge of innovation implementation. Academy of Management Review 21 (4), 1055–1080; Kwon, T.H., Zmud, R.W., 1987. Unifying the fragmented models of information systems implementation. In: Hirschheim, B.R. (Ed.), Critical Issues in Information Systems Research. John Wiley and Sons Ltd., New York, pp. 227–252], implementation outcomes continue to disappoint—particularly those related to large-scale information systems (ISs) implementation projects [Aiman-Smith, L., Green, S.G., 2002. Implementing new manufacturing technology: the related effects of technology characteristics and user learning activities. Academy of Management Journal 45 (2), 421–430; The Standish Group International Inc., 1995. Chaos (Application Project Failure and Success). Access http://www.standishgroup.com/chaos.html; Whittaker, B., 1999. What went wrong? Unsuccessful information technology projects. Information Management & Computer Security 7 (1), 23–29]. In 1996, Klein and Sorra introduced a promising model that posited key determinants of implementation effectiveness. In this paper we present new validated construct measures, and then test the Klein and Sorra model using a survey of 209 employees in seven organizations. Our results demonstrate that IS implementation effectiveness is influenced directly and indirectly by innovation-values fit, and indirectly by implementation climate.     

Hardness results and approximation algorithm for total liar’s domination in graphs

In this paper, we initiate the study of total liar’s domination of a graph. A subset L?V of a graph G=(V,E) is called a total liar’s dominating set of G if (i) for all v∈V, |N _G (v)∩L|≥2 and (ii) for every pair u,v∈V of distinct vertices, |(N _G (u)∪N _G (v))∩L|≥3. The total liar’s domination number of a graph G is the cardinality of a minimum total liar’s dominating set of G and is denoted by γ _TLR (G). The Minimum Total Liar’s Domination Problem is to find a total liar’s dominating set of minimum cardinality of the input graph G. Given a graph G and a positive integer k, the Total Liar’s Domination Decision Problem is to check whether G has a total liar’s dominating set of cardinality at most k. In this paper, we give a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of a total liar’s dominating set in a graph. We show that the Total Liar’s Domination Decision Problem is NP-complete for general graphs and is NP-complete even for split graphs and hence for chordal graphs. We also propose a 2(lnΔ(G)+1)-approximation algorithm for the Minimum Total Liar’s Domination Problem, where Δ(G) is the maximum degree of the input graph G. We show that Minimum Total Liar’s Domination Problem cannot be approximated within a factor of $(\frac{1}{8}-\epsilon)\ln(|V|)$ for any ?>0, unless NP?DTIME(|V|^loglog|V|). Finally, we show that Minimum Total Liar’s Domination Problem is APX-complete for graphs with bounded degree 4.     

Challenges for Brazil’s food industry in the context of globalization and Mercosur consolidation

This paper examines how the Brazilian food industry has been heavily affected by several recent institutional and economic changes. The food industry, including the processing and retail sectors, is part of a broader agribusiness system that conditions corporations’ strategies, performance, and adoption of adequate governance structures. The Brazilian agroindustrialization process that preceded the formation of the sub-regional free-trade area (Mercosur) and economic liberalization influenced subsequent development of the agribusiness and food system in the Mercosur countries and their investment and trade links to countries outside Mercosur. The article emphasizes business strategies for coping with challenges and opportunities that have arisen from Mercosur integration, from economic stabilization programs and, more importantly, from a broad range of institutional changes such as trade liberalization, deregulation, and the friendlier treatment of foreign capital. These changes have together fostered the globalization process in the region and have stimulated different responses from large and small firms, all threatened by the new, competitive environment.     

Latour and Woolgar’s ‘cycle of scientific credibility’ as a basis for conceptualizing business school strategy

Review of Managerial Science - Drawing on contemporary and historical discourse around UK business schools and insights from the sociology of scientific knowledge, we argue that business schools...     

Environmental and economic assessment for the optimal configuration of a sustainable solid waste collection system: a ‘kerbside’ case study

The article presents a case study concerning the improvement of the ‘kerbside’ waste collection system, now increasingly implemented in many Italian municipalities, as an alternative to traditional bring collection, with the aim of increasing the quality of waste collection and the collection rate, in order to reduce the final impact on the environment. A planning model for an integrated waste management system based on kerbside collection is presented. A heuristic procedure is also applied in order to obtain some admissible solutions of the real problem in reasonable computational time. The economic and environmental impacts are considered as significant elements for the evaluation and validation of the obtained solutions. Five alternative configurations of kerbside system, diverging in number of sub-area, synchrony of vehicles and directionality of the arcs, are compared in an economic point of view. Finally, Life-Cycle Assessment is used as a tool to compare the overall potential environmental impacts of the alternative of kerbside collection systems and also to compare the kerbside system with the traditional bring one. The different scenarios of kerbside system are comparable in terms of damage on the impact categories, while the bring system is the worst one, in terms of damage on human health, in the consumption of resources and also for the total damage score.     

A Nerlovian cost inefficiency two-stage DEA model for modeling banks’ production process: Evidence from the Turkish banking system

By developing a two-stage model the paper examines the cost inefficiency levels of Turkish banks during the period from 2007 to 2016. Using the notion of Koopmans input efficiency we deconstruct the estimated Nerlovian cost inefficiency to the sum of slack-based allocative and technical inefficiency levels. Alongside the traditional inputs, intermediates and outputs used to model banks’ performance measure we additionally use their labor education quality factor as a non-discretionary input. This allows us to model how human capital factors affect a bank's revenue generation stage. Our findings suggest that cost inefficiency levels are driven mainly by a bank's ability to control its allocative inefficiency levels. The empirical evidence also shows that foreign banks perform better, suggesting that bank ownership structures matter when measuring cost performance. Finally, it is evident that the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) had a negative effect on banks’ ability to minimize their cost inefficiency levels. However, the post-crisis findings demonstrate that Turkish banks have started to recover from its negative effects, mainly by improving their allocative performance.     

A quadratic lower bound for Rocchio’s similarity-based relevance feedback algorithm with a fixed query updating factor

Rocchio’s similarity-based relevance feedback algorithm, one of the most important query reformation methods in information retrieval, is essentially an adaptive supervised learning algorithm from examples. In practice, Rocchio’s algorithm often uses a fixed query updating factor. When this is the case, we strengthen the linear Ω(n) lower bound obtained by Chen and Zhu (Inf. Retr. 5:61–86, 2002) and prove that Rocchio’s algorithm makes Ω(k(n−k)) mistakes in searching for a collection of documents represented by a monotone disjunction of k relevant features over the n-dimensional binary vector space {0,1} ⁿ , when the inner product similarity measure is used. A quadratic lower bound is obtained when k is linearly proportional to n. We also prove an O(k(n−k)³) upper bound for Rocchio’s algorithm with the inner product similarity measure in searching for such a collection of documents with a constant query updating factor and a zero classification threshold.     

A modularised typology for flow design based on decoupling points – a holistic view on process industries and discrete manufacturing industries

Management of production activities covers a wide range of decisions. In this paper, a modularised approach is suggested that, through configuration, generates a case-specific flow design. The approach is based on identification of decision categories that are generic and fundamental in the flow design, covering both discrete manufacturing industries and process industries. Each decision category identifies a unique property of the flow which changes at a particular point: this is termed a ‘decoupling point’. A three-dimensional modularised typology is developed by combining three different decision categories. Cases from the steel industry and the tooling industry are used to illustrate how the typology can be applied. The modularised approach provides a typology for the application of both qualitative and quantitative methods for flow management, including planning, control and performance management.     

Let’s agree about nice leaders: A literature review and meta-analysis of agreeableness and its relationship with leadership outcomes

In this study, we draw from 22 years of research in leadership to investigate the ambiguous relationship between the personality trait agreeableness and leadership. First, we conduct a comprehensive review of the leadership literature to build a foundational understanding of leader agreeableness that includes providing a broad definition for agreeableness, identifying emerging trends, and proposing an agenda for future research. Second, using the literature review as our theoretical foundation, we conduct a meta-analysis from the same body of literature to quantitatively decompose the relationship between leader agreeableness and leadership emergence and effectiveness. We also hypothesize and test the contextual moderating effects for gender, leadership level, and cultural context (as reflected by individualism-collectivism). Collectively, our findings provide a framework for future research on leadership agreeableness and support the notion that nice (highly agreeable) leaders can emerge as effective leaders.     

Assessing and Preventing Serious Incidents with Behavioral Science: Enhancing Heinrich’s Triangle for the 21st Century

ABSTRACT

The rate of occupational injuries has been declining annually, but the rate of decline for fatalities has not kept a similar pace. Behavior-based safety (BBS) contributes to reducing personal injuries, and can be applied to preventing serious incidents. To address serious injuries with greater confidence requires a change in perspective on the causes of fatalities and serious injuries. Heinrich’s safety triangle helps describe the ratio between minor incidents and major incidents, but is not adequate in helping to predict serious incidents. Adding a special subset to the safety triangle can assist safety practitioners in predicting and influencing such events. Extending the triangle to include more foundational root causes, such as leadership shortcomings and system failures, will expand the scope of the behavior analysis, and including greater specificity about the precursors to serious incidents will help the precision of the behavior analysis. The implications of the expanded triangle for amplifying the effectiveness of BBS for reducing serious incidents are discussed.     

Designing a Decision-Making Process for a Network Administrative Organization: A Case Study of the National Quality Forum’s Consensus Development Process

In 1999 the health care industry created the National Quality Forum—a network administrative organization—to address issues of health care quality in a new way by bringing together organizations from the public and private sectors and providing them with a forum to discuss and debate measures of quality, and ultimately, to effect change. Little, however, is known about the decision making processes of network administrative organizations despite the fact that their decisions may have far-reaching impacts on public policy. Using a grounded theory approach, this paper examines the creation and development of the NQF’s Consensus Development Process and identifies and discusses five key principles that underlie the process. This paper argues that in order to create a decision-making process for a network administrative organization that is balanced and inclusive of diverse interests a leader must consider and incorporate principles that are representative of the larger environment.     

Do dimensions of culture exist objectively? A validation of the revised Minkov-Hofstede model of culture with World Values Survey items and scores for 102 countries

Decades ago, Hofstede claimed that dimensions of culture are entirely subjective creations. In this study, we claim that some measures of culture have an objective element. We focus on Hofstede's classic model, reduced to just two dimensions: individualism-collectivism (IDV-COLL) and long-term orientation, renamed “flexibility-monumentalism” (FLX-MON). Recent studies showed that: (1) all valid and reproducible dimensions of culture, from all models, are essentially variants of these two, (2) this 2D model has a close analogue in dimensions of behaviors measured across the world's countries, (3) the same model emerges across the 50 US states, (4) an analysis of all recurrent culture-related items in the World Values Survey (WVS) yields a similar 2D model that can be further aligned with it after targeted rotation, (5) the model is aligned approximately with the Earth's geographic axes. In this study, we used WVS items and expanded Minkov's IDV-COLL and FLX-MON 55-country indices with scores for another 47 countries. Our IDV-COLL and FLX-MON 102-country indices are predictors of 20 important extraneous variables, relevant in international business (such as transparency-corruption, political and economic freedom, competitiveness, innovation output, ICT adoption, fatalities in transport and industry, gender equality, economic equality, educational achievement, working hours, violent crime, etc.). Of all dimensions of culture, IDV-COLL and FLX-MON are the only predictors of the two factors behind these extraneous variables. IDV-MON and FLX-MON also yield the highest correlations with objective geographic variables, such as latitude-longitude, Welzel's “cool water”, as well as pathogen prevalence. This gives further credibility to the revised Minkov-Hofstede 2D model and confirms its objective element.     

Is the Preference for Children so Low,or is the Price of Time so High? A simultaneous model of fertility and participation in Italy with cohort effects

ABSTRACT: This paper presents a simultaneous model of fertility and female participation in Italy, estimated with a sequence of cross-sections of micro data. Cohort dummies are used to capture permanent effects, including cohort changes in preferences. The cohort effects turn out to be not very significant, the point estimates suggesting a decreasing trend in participation and an increasing trend in fertility. The wage effects are instead rather strong and significant. The model produces simulations which are close to actual trends, which would seem largely explained by wage incentives. The explanation for a particularly high elasticity of fertility with respect to female wage should ultimately be searched for in the specific differences which characterize the Italian social and institutional environment.     

Finding the niche to reposition leadership in Africa’s developing economies for the global highway: review of literature on leadership development programmes – methods and techniques*

Africa’s developing economies remain in critical need for leadership. This paper asserts that Africa’s new growth opportunities rest with leadership that could champion organizational performance, innovativeness, and good ethics among others. A review of extant literature on leadership development programmes (LDPs) was done to examine possible initiatives that leadership developers can use to influence leadership practices in Africa. This paper proposes that in Africa, LDPs can be used to inculcate authentic leadership practices and enhance networking and acquisition of innovative skills among others. Furthermore, LDPs could target the youth considering them as an investment into tomorrow’s leadership talent pool. The paper suggests that Africa’s niche for the global highway rests in contextualization of LDPs from other regions to Africa’s unique environment.