Supplier Selection for Framework Agreements in Humanitarian Relief

In this study, we consider the supplier selection problem of a relief organization that wants to establish framework agreements (FAs) with a number of suppliers to ensure quick and cost‐effective procurement of relief supplies in responding to sudden‐onset disasters. Motivated by the FAs in relief practice, we focus on a quantity flexibility contract in which the relief organization commits to purchase a minimum total quantity from each framework supplier over a fixed agreement horizon, and, in return, the suppliers reserve capacity for the organization and promise to deliver items according to pre‐specified agreement terms. Due to the uncertainties in demand locations and amounts, it may be challenging for relief organizations to assess candidate suppliers and the offered agreement terms. We use a scenario‐based approach to represent demand uncertainty and develop a stochastic programming model that selects framework suppliers to minimize expected procurement and agreement costs while meeting service requirements. We perform numerical experiments to understand the implications of agreement terms in different settings. The results show that supplier selection decisions and costs are generally more sensitive to the changes in agreement terms in settings with high‐impact disasters. Finally, we illustrate the applicability of our model on a case study.     

The Effect of Language Differences and National Culture on Operational Process Compliance

With increasing frequency, firms are locating their operations in disparate countries with distinct national cultures and languages. This study develops and empirically tests hypotheses relating an operation's process compliance performance to (1) the presence of a language difference between the location of the operation and that of headquarters and (2) the national culture of the location of the operation and that of headquarters. Employing an international sample of pharmaceutical manufacturing plants located primarily in Western nations, the analysis reveals that a language difference between the location of a plant and the firm's headquarters is consistently related to decreased process compliance at the plant level. Regarding national culture, only limited evidence of a direct relationship between national cultural dimensions (at either the plant or headquarters location) and process compliance exists. However, the analysis does suggest that cultural congruence between the location of the plant and that of headquarters can relate to improved compliance performance. Such a relationship depends on the specific national cultural dimension studied. While these results are obtained in a specific manufacturing setting, they potentially have implications for process compliance in any global operation.     

Balancing Revenues and Repair Costs under Partial Information about Product Reliability

We consider the problem faced by a company selling a product with warranty and under partial information about the product reliability. The product can fail from multiple failure types, each of which is associated with an inherently different repair cost. If the product fails within the warranty duration, then the company is required to pay the repair cost. The company does not know the probabilities associated with different failure types, but it learns the failure probabilities as sales occur and failure information is accumulated. If the failure probabilities turn out to be too high and it becomes costly to fulfill the warranty coverage, then the company may decide to stop selling the product, possibly replacing it with a more reliable alternative. The objective is to decide if and when to stop. By formulating the problem as a dynamic program with Bayesian learning, we establish structural properties of the optimal policy. Since computing the optimal policy is intractable due to the high dimensional state space, we propose two approximation methods. The first method is based on decomposing the problem by failure types and it provides upper bounds on the value functions. The second method provides lower bounds on the value functions and it is based on a deterministic approximation. Computational experiments indicate that the policy from the first method provides noticeable benefits, especially when it is difficult to form good estimates of the failure probabilities quickly.     

Introduction to the Special Issue on Humanitarian Operations and Crisis Management

The Genesis of this Special Issue came from the Board of the POMS College on Humanitarian Operations and Crisis Management (HO&CM). It was seen as a necessary initiative to define the field and examine research opportunities. This Special Issue shows that humanitarian operations pose challenges for P/OM researchers and practitioners that differ markedly from those of conventional supply chains associated with profitable enterprises. On the basis of the eight articles in this Special Issue, we have described and demonstrated the unique characteristics of the POM/HO&CM interaction. We have also identified those attributes that tend to overlap with conventional aspects of POM. In addition to wanting to be cost effective, the issue of equity fairness is pervasive in humanitarian operations, and so is the need to always base considerations on “last‐mile logistics,” that is, getting aid to those in most need. Research is essential to determine how to train researchers to scout out and map the territory of the real problems. One of the most vexing problems is the lack of robust data in the humanitarian domain which is as richly varied as the types of disasters that can occur.     

人力资源管理系统影响企业绩效的复杂性机理——基于高新技术企业的实证研究

破解人力资源管理系统影响企业绩效的机理是战略人力资源管理研究领域的核心问题。基于164家高新技术企业的调查数据,采用层级回归模型检验了人力资源管理系统与企业绩效间的复杂性机理。结果显示,人力资源管理系统对企业绩效的正向直接效应显著,影响二者关系的外生变量是创新战略非高管价值观;人力资本在二者关系间的中介效应不显著,但以组织氛围为控制变量时中介效应有了显著提高;"组织氛围调节下的人力资本中介作用模型"很好地刻画人力资本发挥中介效应的机理。研究结果强化了我们对人力资源管理系统与企业绩效关系机理的认知,同时为高新技术企业管理者在实践中管理员工提供了有益启示。     

A knowledge chain management framework to support integrated decisions in global supply chains

Knowledge management has been identified as a key enabler to achieve organisation’s value chain competitiveness. It, however, has been facing fresh challenges in a global supply chain setting. This paper proposes a global knowledge chain management (GKCM) framework that identifies and prioritises critical knowledge that a global supply chain can focus on to support integrated decisions. The framework explores three types of global context knowledge, namely global market knowledge, global capacity knowledge and global supply network configuration knowledge. Empirical study has been undertaken within the manufacturing industry to evaluate the GKCM framework. Analytic network process has been explored as a key method to assess the importance of the global knowledge constructs from supply chain managers’ perspectives. A key contribution of the paper is that it advances existing knowledge chain management approaches within one organisation and its local supply chain to include the global context knowledge applicable to global manufacturing settings, and highlights how the GKCM framework can support global supply chain integrated decisions.     

Universal supplier selection via multi-dimensional auction mechanisms for two-way competition in oligopoly market of supply chain

Allocation of the tasks in competitive market conditions at each echelon of the supply chain is an important activity in the supply chain. The task allocation problem, referred to as supply chain formation process, normally faces information asymmetry in the supply chain. The information asymmetry is caused by rational and intelligent players trying to maximize their own profit rather than opt for the supply chain profit as a whole. Thus, the process of allocating tasks in such situations becomes difficult and will result in externalities in the supply chain trades. These externalities can be internalized with present methodologies in the literature. In this paper, the major internalization methods in different contexts are considered. Lagrange relaxation and Vickery Clarke Groves (VCG) auction mechanism are explored in order to form a supply chain. This paper proposes the multi-stage auction mechanism analyzing two-way competitions, a Bertrand and Cournot competition where price per unit and quantity are the underlying two parameters in a utility analysis. To analyze the problem in real life, the industry example of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd. (IRCTC) procurement process has been taken which demonstrates the usability of the proposed framework.     

大型医院血液库存系统订货点决策的仿真研究

血液是一种典型的易变质物品。本文以国内某大型医院的血液库存系统为对象,依照其运作流程,基于该系统运行的历史数据建立了一个离散事件系统仿真模型对这一系统进行研究,得到了该系统的最优订货点。本文的研究有助于血液库存管理措施的制定与改进,对其它易变质物品库存系统的管理也有一定的借鉴作用。     

类生产函数企业价值链管理模型研究

本文从价值链的一些本质特征出发,借鉴生产函数的原理与形式,提出了一种新的价值链模型——类生产函数价值链管理,证明了类生产函数的一些重要性质,论述了此模型对企业价值链的管理与优化过程。最后进行了实例分析,分析过程及结果表明,该模型能够较好地实现价值链的优化与管理。