Traceability system for capturing, processing and providing consumer-relevant information about wood products: System solution and its economic feasibility

Current research and practice reports indicate the existence of purchase barriers concerning eco-friendly products, e.g. wood products. These can be ascribed to consumers' mistrust regarding the non-observable environmental impact of wood products. To counter the mistrust, wood products are commonly endowed with eco-labels, which may be perceived mostly as a marketing tool, therefore not fulfilling their intended purpose. Current studies have shown that providing consumers with wood product information based on traceability systems increases product trust and purchase intentions, with those information items most valued by consumers being identified as well. Based on this, the paper proposes a traceability information system for the capturing, processing, and provision of product information using examples of wood furniture. Furthermore, a cost-benefit model for the proposed solution is developed. The calculations indicate the possibility of implementing traceability at the item level based on a four-layer system architecture enabling the capture and delivery of all information valued by consumers at acceptable costs. The proposed system helps to overcome purchase barriers of eco-friendly products, increasing consumers' product trust and purchase intentions

The use of information systems for logistics and supply chain management in South East Europe: Current status and future direction

This research aims to investigate the current status and future direction of the use of information systems for logistics and supply chain management (LSCM) in South East Europe. The objectives are threefold: (1) to identify major challenges and developments on the use of information systems for LSCM by enterprises, (2) to examine the actual level of satisfaction of current policy on LSCM, and (3) to reveal the actual need of enterprises in South East Europe on effective use of information systems for LSCM. Mixed methodology of literature review and questionnaire survey is adopted in this research. Data collected from 79 enterprises are analysed using descriptive analysis in SPSS. The findings suggest that enterprises in Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Romania, and Serbia and Montenegro, face similar challenges but all are in different stages of developments of LSCM. Their use of information systems explains their heavy focus on supply chain partnership and weakness in demand chain partnership. Major findings suggest that companies and governments alike in that region do not seem to be ready for playing a significant and demanding role in global supply chains. Current deficiencies, including limited abilities in building valuable forward relations, weak strategic planning and organisation, and infrastructural problems, are major obstacles for fast development in LSCM. At the same time though, traces of changing mentalities do exist, setting the ground for improved performance and ultimately for a better position in global business

A framework for the successful implementation of food traceability systems in China

Implementation of food traceability systems in China faces many challenges due to the scale, diversity and complexity of China’s food supply chains. This study aims to identify critical success factors specific to the implementation of traceability systems in China. Twenty-seven critical success factors were identified in the literature. Interviews with managers at four food enterprises in a pre-study helped identify success criteria and five additional critical success factors. These critical success factors were tested through a survey of managers in eighty-three food companies. This study identifies six dimensions for critical success factors: laws, regulations and standards; government support; consumer knowledge and support; effective management and communication; top management and vendor support; and information and system quality

Semantic discovery and reuse of business process patterns

Patterns currently play an important role in modern information systems (IS) development and their use has mainly been restricted to the design and implementation phases of the development lifecycle. Given the increasing significance of business modelling in IS development, patterns have the potential of providing a viable solution for promoting reusability of recurrent generalized models in the very early stages of development. As a statement of research-in-progress this paper focuses on business process patterns and proposes an initial methodological framework for the discovery and reuse of business process patterns within the IS development lifecycle. The framework borrows ideas from the domain engineering literature and proposes the use of semantics to drive both the discovery of patterns as well as their reuse

Pervasive computing at tableside : a wireless web-based ordering system

Purpose &ndash; The purpose of this paper is to introduce a wireless web-based ordering system called iMenu in the restaurant industry. Design/methodology/approach &ndash; By using wireless devices such as personal digital assistants and WebPads, this system realizes the paradigm of pervasive computing at tableside. Detailed system requirements, design, implementation and evaluation of iMenu are presented.Findings &ndash; The evaluation of iMenu shows it explicitly increases productivity of restaurant staff. It also has other desirable features such as integration, interoperation and scalability. Compared to traditional restaurant ordering process, by using this system customers get faster and better services, restaurant staff cooperate more efficiently with less working mistakes, and enterprise owners thus receive more business profits. Originality/value &ndash; While many researchers have explored using wireless web-based information systems in different industries, this paper presents a system that employs wireless multi-tiered web-based architecture to build pervasive computing systems. Instead of discussing theoretical issues on pervasive computing, we focus on practical issues of developing a real system, such as choosing of web-based architecture, design of input methods in small screens, and response time in wireless web-based systems.<br /

Indian Organised Apparel Retail Sector and DSS (Decision Support Systems)

Indian apparel retail sector poses interesting challenges to a manager as it is evolving and closely linked to fashions. Appealing mainly to youth, the sector has typical information requirements to manage its operations. DSS (Decision Support Systems) provide timely and accurate information & it can be viewed as an integrated entity providing management with the tools and information to assist their decision making. The study exploratory in nature, adopts a case study approach to understand practices of organized retailers in apparel sector regarding applications of various DSS tools. Conceptual overview of DSS is undertaken by reviewing the literature. The study describes practices and usage of DSS in operational decisions in apparel sector and managerial issues in design and implementation of DSS. A multi brand local chain and multi brand national chain of apparel was chosen for the study. Varied tools were found to be used by them. It was also found that for sales forecasting and visual merchandising decisions, prior experience rather than any DSS tool was used. The benefits realized were; “help as diagnostic tool”, “accuracy of records and in billing”, “smooth operations”. The implementation issues highlighted by the store managers were; more initial teething problems rather than resistance on the part of employees of the store, need for investment of time & money in training, due to rapid technological advancements, time to time updation in DSS tools is required . Majority of operational decisions like inventory management, CRM, campaign management were handled by ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) or POS (Point of Sale). Prioritization as well as quantification of benefits was not attempted. The issues of coordination, integration with other systems in case of ERP usage, training were highlighted. Future outlook of DSS seems bright as apparel retailers are keen to invest in technology.

Critical Management Issues for Implementing RFID in Supply Chain Management

The benefits of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology in the supply chain are fairly compelling. It has the potential to revolutionise the efficiency, accuracy and security of the supply chain with significant impact on overall profitability. A number of companies are actively involved in testing and adopting this technology. It is estimated that the market for RFID products and services will increase significantly in the next few years. Despite this trend, there are major impediments to RFID adoption in supply chain. While RFID systems have been around for several decades, the technology for supply chain management is still emerging. We describe many of the challenges, setbacks and barriers facing RFID implementations in supply chains, discuss the critical issues for management and offer some suggestions. In the process, we take an in-depth look at cost, technology, standards, privacy and security and business process reengineering related issues surrounding RFID technology in supply chains

Proximal business intelligence on the semantic web

This is the post-print version of this article. The official version can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2010 Springer.Ubiquitous information systems (UBIS) extend current Information System thinking to explicitly differentiate technology between devices and software components with relation to people and process. Adapting business data and management information to support specific user actions in context is an ongoing topic of research. Approaches typically focus on providing mechanisms to improve specific information access and transcoding but not on how the information can be accessed in a mobile, dynamic and ad-hoc manner. Although web ontology has been used to facilitate the loading of data warehouses, less research has been carried out on ontology based mobile reporting. This paper explores how business data can be modeled and accessed using the web ontology language and then re-used to provide the invisibility of pervasive access; uncovering more effective architectural models for adaptive information system strategies of this type. This exploratory work is guided in part by a vision of business intelligence that is highly distributed, mobile and fluid, adapting to sensory understanding of the underlying environment in which it operates. A proof-of concept mobile and ambient data access architecture is developed in order to further test the viability of such an approach. The paper concludes with an ontology engineering framework for systems of this type – named UBIS-ONTO