A global meaning of supply chain social sustainability

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to help reduce tensions in supply chain social sustainability (SCSS) decisions by providing a common global, contextual definition of social sustainability. This exploratory study utilised an inductive structured interview method to capture SCSS concept meanings. Those interviewed are from, have lived, and worked in developed economies, emerging economies and the base of the pyramid (BOP) economies. The results present a new global baseline definition of SCSS to inform theory and practice by finding that SCSS meanings differ not only between the different levels of economic development, but also within the levels as well. Culture, community and whether basic human needs are met all weigh into perspectives of what this concept is and should entail; a broad, contingent definition is most appropriate moving forward for sustainability planning and execution. Further research with stakeholders in more countries and communities is needed to validate our proposal.     

Analysis of Competing Risks by Using Bayesian Smoothing

We consider the competing risks set-up. In many practical situations, the conditional probability of the cause of failure given the failure time is of direct interest. We propose to model the competing risks by the overall hazard rate and the conditional probabilities rather than the cause-specific hazards. We adopt a Bayesian smoothing approach for both quantities of interest. Illustrations are given at the end.     

What types of occupations are women entering? : Determinants of changes in female representation: 1970–2000

Although a consistent body of research has demonstrated that occupational segregation is highly consequential for women's economic standing, we know little about the processes that contribute to changes in levels of sex segregation. In this study, we examine those factors that contribute to changes in the percent of women in detailed occupational categories in the United States. Since we are most concerned with the economic consequences of this type of segregation, we analyze a group of high-paying, male-dominated occupations that, if better integrated, would contribute most to earnings equality. We find that occupations to which relatively high percentages of women aspired and occupations that are growing have been experiencing above-average increases in the percentage of women, while occupations characterized by male-stereotyped task profiles have been witnessing below-average increases. Additionally, our results suggest the presence of a ceiling effect: it is easier for women to break into male-dominated occupations initially than to sustain growth. Our analysis suggests that both supply and demand-side explanations provide insight into the processes contributing to increases in the occupations that we examine, although it can be very difficult to distinguish between supply and demand-side elements; indeed they may occur simultaneously.     

考虑脉冲现象的复杂供应链系统及其稳定策略

供应链系统是一个复杂的系统,一方面由于时间延迟、信息不对称及反馈机制等,会产生牛鞭效应,另一方面供应链具有需求突增或骤减的脉冲特点,上述现象都可能导致供应链系统混沌,而现有的供应链模型仅考虑了“牛鞭效应”,并未考虑脉冲现象对供应链系统的影响。文章建立了考虑脉冲现象的供应链模型,分析了脉冲现象对供应链系统的影响,并给出了使供应链系统稳定的策略,讨论了参数扰动对该模型的影响,通过数值算例验证了稳定策略的有效性。研究发现:脉冲现象对供应链系统有着显著影响,但只要选取恰当的脉冲强度和脉冲时间间隔,供应链系统是可以稳定的。     

浅析改进物流配送体系促进电子商务发展

本文从电子商务发展中的物流配送瓶颈出发,论述电子商务环境下我国物流配送存在的现实问题,总结了物流配送的两种基本模式,并进一步探讨物流配送要适应电子商务发展新要求的有关对策,提出了物流配送如何改进的方法,使电子商务产业符合快捷、高效、低成本、个性化的配送要求。     

A delay-in-payment contract for Pareto improvement of a supply chain with stochastic demand

We consider a supply chain consisting of a single supplier and a single retailer with stochastic customer demand, which is operated over an infinite horizon. We propose a delay-in-payment contract to coordinate the supply chain. With this contract, the supplier allows the retailer to pay partial order cost at the ordering epoch, and to pay the remaining portion after a permissible number of periods. The system is formulated as a stochastic dynamic programming problem. It is shown that there exists a base-stock policy to be optimal. Compared with the traditional wholesale-price contract, the delay-in-payment contract with appropriate parameters can achieve a Pareto improvement (i.e., the performances of both the supplier and the retailer using the delay-in-payment contract are better than those using the wholesale-price contract). Numerical studies are performed to investigate both the effectiveness of the Pareto improvement, and the impact of the major parameters of the delay-in-payment contract on the system performance.     

基于供应链集成的网络式新产品开发研究

基于供应链集成的网络式新产品开发，不是从一个企业或企业集团层面看，而是从整个产业的层面看，那就是新产品开发是由产业内价值链相关各企业及企业外部研发资源，利用企业间的互动机制，相互创意激发及技术交流而产生新产品的一种模式，这种模式的最大优势是全体参与者的共同参与，发挥全体参与者团体作用的优势，强调产品开发流程，以产出为衡量基准，强调“产出成本效率”的业绩评估体系以及通过对外部资源的充分利用，强调“资源优化和无缝对接”和有效配套管理。     

边远民族地区工业经济发展与和谐社会建设研究

边远民族地区应本着科学发展观,努力发展本地区的民族特色工业。边远民族地区发展工业经济应遵循以资源市场为导向、延长产业链,发展特色产业等,正确处理好工业经济与社会发展、三次产业之间以及经济发展与环境保护之间的关系。