System of Systems Perspective on Risk: Towards a Unified Concept

Many systems and projects that concern systems engineers, engineering managers, and business managers today can be defined as system of systems (SoS), which are described as ambiguous, uncertain and dynamic, among others. In addition to the traditional view on risk identification, analysis and management, the concept of risk should be considered with respect to these systems of systems. The purpose of this paper is to analyse both fundamental concepts and recent publications in system of systems, business and engineering management, as well as risk analysis, modelling, and management for the purpose of better describing the concept of risk with respect to system of systems. The ultimate goal is to provide engineering and business managers the necessary perspective on the concept of risk and its management for the next generation of systems – including various descriptions of risk and discussion of the relevance of properties of system of systems to sustainable management of risks in engineered systems. To achieve a truly sustainable management of risk, there has to be a change in paradigm from a traditional description of risk to that of a more holistic perspective

A systems thinking approach for modelling supply chain risk propagation

Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM) is rapidly becoming a most sought after research area due to the influence of recent supply chain disruptions on global economy. The thesis begins with a systematic literature review of the developments within the broad domain of SCRM over the past decade. Thematic and descriptive analysis supported with modern knowledge management techniques brings forward seven distinctive research gaps for future research in SCRM. Overlapping research findings from an industry perspective, coupled with SCRM research gaps from the systematic literature review has helped to define the research problem for this study. The thesis focuses on a holistic and systematic approach to modelling risks within supply chain and logistics networks. The systems thinking approach followed conceptualises the phenomenon of risk propagation utilising several recent case studies, workshop findings and focus studies. Risk propagation is multidimensional and propagates beyond goods, finance and information resource. It cascades into technology, human resource and socio-ecological dimensions. Three risk propagation zones are identified that build the fundamentals for modelling risk behaviour in terms of cost and delay. The development of a structured framework for SCRM, a holistic supply chain risk model and a quantitative research design for risk assessment are the major contributions of this research. The developed risk assessment platform has the ability to capture the fracture points and cascading impact within a supply chain and logistics network. A reputed aerospace and defence organisation in UK was used to test the experimental modelling set up for its viability and for bridging the gap between theory and practice. The combined statistical and simulation modelling approach provides a new perspective to assessing the complex behavioural performance of risks during multiple interactions within network

Analyzing the Critical Supply Chain for Unmanned Aircraft Systems

Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) play a vital role in present day operations due their asset capability and ability to reduce risk to pilots’ lives. A complex supply chain network capable of producing and integrating all raw materials, components, sub- systems, and systems supports the successful acquisition of a UAS. Such a complex network is supported by vital supply chain decisions. Two important decisions regarding supply chain design include supplier selection and optimal flow of material and product Whether a decision maker wishes to design or interdict a supply chain, the methodology developed in this thesis provides a suite of tailorable models to facilitate these vital decisions. Linear programming and generalized network flow models that incorporate goal programming are developed to integrate the decision maker’s priorities. In addition a targeting matrix employing a House of Quality approach is developed to provide an interdiction planning team with a decision support tool that facilitates interdiction strategy planning. Overall, the different models developed in the study provide modeling flexibility. The incorporation of goal programming into supply chain network design an interdiction allows decision makers to effectively frame their supply chain decisions

Supply chain social responsability : its approaches and their systemic nature

To help supply chains better manage their social responsibility messes, this research set out to uncover the underlying biases, strengths and weaknesses of the relevant literature and the approaches it developed and employed in order to offer a solid foundation for future research. The scientific contribution of this body of research is to offer new insights about current research and practices with regard to their problem-solving bases from a systemic perspective. Social responsibility messes are due to supply chain vulnerabilities instigating reactions from stakeholders forcing the former to change its conduct. Such vulnerabilities include: environmental damage; child labor; poor working conditions; indifference toward community traditions; favouring foreign workers; etc. Moreover, reactions manifest in many forms including: negative societal perception; bad press; consumer boycotts; shareholder activism; pressure from worker rights groups; brand and reputation damage; regulation pressure; legal action; operational disruptions; lost shareholder value; lost cost advantage; lost customer loyalty; lost product status; etc. This research is organized into three phases, each resolving part of its overall objective, and the findings of which served as input to the next phase and inspired its direction. Phase one mapped the supply chain social responsibility literature in order to collect and classify evidence on the most prolific supply chain social responsibility approaches. The goal was to understand how the messes of interest are actually handled. Such evidence highlighted knowledge clusters, knowledge gaps, and missed opportunities. The findings revealed that Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainable Reporting, and Social Life Cycle Assessment are amongst the most employed approaches whereas systems thinking is highly underused. The second phase further investigated the scarce use of systems thinking in the literature. The goal was to understand, from systems thinking perspective, how capable the literature is in offering viable solutions that can handle the complex nature of the messes of interest. The findings revealed that the literature is insufficient with regard to pluralism in perspective while being distributed over a number of paradigms to various degrees, therefore confined within these paradigms’ constraints. The third phase set out to develop a better alternative approach to the messes of supply chain social responsibility by accomplishing two goals: firstly, understanding how the most prolific measures are fallible from a systems thinking perspective as well as determining their underlying systemic paradigms; and secondly, how Critical Systems Thinking can be used to design superior interventions that better identify and address the messes of interest while using the tools and methods from the already existing approaches. The development of the framework was only possible after the analyses of the strengths and weakness of three of the most prevalent approaches and their paradigm pertinences

Supply Chain Risk Management of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) in Australia

This research examines the supply chain risk management of Australia’s Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) supply chain. The study develops a risk management methodology based on quality function deployment and 0-1 multiobjective optimization model. The research reveals 33 LNG supply chain risks and 30 risk management strategies (RMSs) for Australian LNG supply chain. Optimal sets of RMSs are found using the methodology which would be beneficial for the LNG risk managers in a limited resources scenario