A SIMULATION GAME FOR TEACHING SERVICE‐ORIENTED SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT: DOES INFORMATION SHARING HELP MANAGERS WITH SERVICE CAPACITY DECISIONS?*

For decades, the Beer Game has taught complex principles of supply chain management in a finished good inventory supply chain. However, services typically cannot hold inventory and can only manage backlogs through capacity adjustments. We propose a simulation game designed to teach service‐oriented supply chain management principles and to test whether managers use them effectively. For example, using a sample of typical student results, we determine that student managers can effectively use end‐user demand information to reduce backlog and capacity adjustment costs. The game can also demonstrate the impact of demand variability and reduced capacity adjustment time and lead times.     

COMMUNICATING IN THE POM CLASS: AN AUTHOR'S PERSPECTIVE

The author, who has written nine textbooks in 26 editions over the past two decades, discusses his ideas of how to bring a production and operations management course alive. He introduces a model that ties together the use of text with both ancillary materials that accompany that book as well as with other tools available independent of the text. Some of these tools are technology driven (e.g., CD ROMS and the Internet), while others bring real business exposure to the course (e.g., field study consultancies, guest speakers, and plant tours).     

UPSTREAM VOLATILITY IN THE SUPPLY CHAIN: THE MACHINE TOOL INDUSTRY AS A CASE STUDY

Cyclicality is a well‐known and accepted fact of life in market‐driven economies. Less well known or understood, however, is the phenomenon of amplification as one looks “upstream” in the industrial supply chain. We examine the amplification phenomenon and its implications through the lens of one upstream industry that is notorious for the intensity of the business cycles it faces: the machine tool industry. Amplification of demand volatility in capital equipment supply chains, e. g., machine tools, is particularly large relative to that seen in distribution and component parts supply chains. We present a system dynamics simulation model to capture demand volatility amplification in capital supply chains. We explore the lead‐time, inventory, production, productivity, and staffing implications of these dynamic forces. Several results stand out. First, volatility hurts productivity and lowers average worker experience. Second, even though machine tool builders can do little to reduce the volatility in their order streams through choice of forecast rule, a smoother forecasting policy will lead companies to retain more of their skilled work force. This retention of skilled employees is often cited as one of the advantages that European and Japanese companies have had relative to their U. S. competitors. Our results suggest some insights for supply chain design and management: downstream customers can do a great deal to reduce the volatility for upstream suppliers through their choice of order forecast rule. In particular, companies that use smoother forecasting policies tend to impose less of their own volatility upon their supply base and may consequently enjoy system‐wide cost reduction.     

INTEGRATED OPERATIONS: A PROPOSAL FOR OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT TEACHING AND RESEARCH

This paper, addressed to professors of operations management (om) in research institutions, suggests that the long-term academic viability of our discipline requires the generation of a theory uniquely associated with the practice of OM. Such a theory will rest on foundations laid by other disciplines, but must find its own unique synthesis that attends to the problems of OM practice. The paper proposes a framework that recognizes physics, social psychology and philosophy as foundational disciplines for an integrative theoryof OM and suggests which concepts from those disciplines may find voice in such a theory.     

BUSINESS STRATEGY,MANUFACTURING FLEXIBILITY,AND ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE RELATIONSHIPS: A PATH ANALYSIS APPROACH

It has been argued in the literature that business strategy and manufacturing flexibility independently affect the performance of an organization. However, no empirical examination of the interrelationship among these three constructs has been performed. In this paper, based on a field study of 269 firms in the manufacturing industry, the identified constructs have been used to test a theoretical model using path analysis techniques. Our results indicate that business strategy contributes both directly and indirectly to organizational performance. The findings provide evidence of direct effects of (i) business strategy on manufacturing flexibility and (ii) manufacturing flexibility on organizational performance.     

SHADES OF BROWN AND GREEN: PARTY EFFECTS IN PROPORTIONAL ELECTION SYSTEMS

In proportional representation (PR) systems, political power is typically shared across several political parties. Many parties are small and focused on specific policies, such as environmental policy and immigration. Do these small parties matter for policy? I provide the first systematic evidence for this by developing the first regression discontinuity design tailored specifically for PR systems. With this method, which can be applied in all countries with PR systems, I estimate the causal effect of party representation on immigration policy, environmental policy and tax policy using data on Swedish municipalities. The results show that party representation has a large effect on the first two policies, but not on the tax policy.     

SCAT AND SPAT: LARGE-SCALE COMPUTER-BASED OPTIMIZATION SYSTEMS FOR THE PERSONNEL ASSIGNMENT PROBLEM

The personnel assignment problem involves the assignment of people to tasks, projects, etc., in a manner that maximizes a measure of aggregate utility for the assignees subject to several assignment constraints. In addition to computationally efficient solution algorithms, the effective implementation of mathematical models to solve the personnel assignment problem must include data processing systems with comprehensive error checking/resolution procedures, end user reports, documentation, and training. This paper summarizes two successful computer-based systems for solving large-scale personnel assignment problems that frequently occur in university settings. SCAT, the Student-Company Assignment Technique, assigns students to job interview slots. SPAT, the Student-Project Assignment Technique, assigns students to project teams in an MBA field project course. The SCAT and SPAT approaches can be generalized to a wide variety of personnel assignment problems in university, industry, government, and military settings.     

DESIGNING HIGH-CONTACT SERVICE SYSTEMS: APPLICATION TO BRANCHES OF A SAVINGS AND LOAN*

The customer-contact model represents one of the few conceptually based approaches for designing service systems. This paper develops that concept further for high-contact systems, relative to efficiency and effectiveness notions. Four design features (contact technologies, contact training, data bases, and contact roles) are developed and a simple design methodology (built around the four design features) is presented. A demonstration of the design methodology is provided through its applications to branches of a savings and loan. Areas for additional theoretical and practical refinement of the model and the desirability of multidisciplinary research are discussed.