Leanness and agility as means for improving supply chains. A case study on Egypt

Supply chain management has received greater attention from the academics and the practitioners, however the literature review lacks a comprehensive view for supply chain management practices and how its members should act to contribute to its overall success (Li el at., 2005). In this era, where the business organisations are working in several challenging threats and opportunities, greater attention is given to supply chain management. Nowadays, companies are always searching for means to improve their supply chains. The main aim of this research is to show "how leanness and agility approaches can be used within the same enterprise as complementary means for improving its supply chain". To achieve this research objective, the research has provided an assessment and summarised the literature on the supply chain management, lean thinking and agility thinking including their importance; their definitions; their practices and the relationship between lean and agility. The resulted proposed framework deduced from the literature has been applied in the Egyptian Manufacturing Business to show the relationship between the agility principles, lean principles, entity performance and the successful supply chain

A REPRISE OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT IN CONSANGUINITY TO THE INDUSTRY OF TEXTILE

This study investigates supply chain management (SCM) literature to categorize it as well as this study particularly explores studies of SCM for textile industry. An analysis is provided for SCM in connection to textile industry. Science Direct, ABI/INFORM Global, EBSCO Host, and Emerald scholarly databases are inspected for SCM studies. It is found that there is lack of agreement for a sole definition of SCM; moreover, textile industry is being neglected for investigation of SCM. However, categories of SCM are described in a descending order from most studied categories to least studied categories. There is a void of a sole definition for SCM; therefore, a comprehensive definition of SCM is suggested from pertinent literature. Moreover, research gaps are identified for future research of SCM particularly for textile industry.supply chain management, textile industry, categories of SCM

Implementing Agile Methodology Techniques in Automobile Industry

Automotive industries have continued to expand, as they cut on costs by regulating efficiency, grow and make profits. The factors that have continued to change the industry include marketplace growth, outsourcing for product development, customers demanding for improved reliability, development of human-vehicle software and have continued to change the automotive industry. As a result, companies have continued to face numerous challenges to manage the factors. The challenges include managing volatility, experiencing massive uncertainty, as well as reduced predictability of future businesses. Other challenges include handling a complex and interconnected industry and the need to form joint ventures and maintain successful supplier relationships. The Automotive businesses must change their operating models to advance agility. An example includes ensuring OEMs is flexible to operate across the value chain and provide value-add, as well as personalized experiences. The Automotive companies must learn from Google and Uber that have embraced digital activities to market new business models that can promote innovation. The study conducted by Crute et al. (2013) showed that over 30% of automotive businesses are willing to invest in advanced business models likely to drive value from new capabilities. According to Elkins et al. (2014), having an advanced operating model permit digital abilities that could reduce costs and support growth. While rethinking of an operating model, the automotive companies must choose the ones that are digital to help them improve efficiency as well as agility. According to Hallgren and Olhanger, (2009), when companies operate on lean strategies, then they free up costs that could likely to be reinvented to other significant fuel growth strategies and maintain a competitive advantage in the industry. When companies invest in new business models and advanced digital abilities, then they engage in aggressive growth. An example includes automotive firms moving beyond manufacturing of vehicles to join the wider ecosystem that opens new business opportunities to build new capabilities, collaborate with other partners to invest heavily in innovation (Poppendieck & Cusumano, 2012). The focus is on improving customer experiences through expansion strategies that include joint ventures or acquisitions. It is impossible for companies to enhance efficiency and performance without having a talented staff that is committed to the delivery of quality products and services. Digital activities and innovation-driven automotive industry have increased stakes for company processes across the value chain. Devadasan (2012), therefore believes dealerships, OEMs, and manufacturers of vehicle parts require individuals that are digital savvy to initiate the transition to digital corporations (Tuck et al. 2006). The techno-savvy employees use digital strategies to improve customer experience, leading to many companies to invest in human resource practices such as training of employees

Identification of Critical Factors and Their Interrelationships to Design Agile Supply Chain : Special Focus to Oil and Gas Industries

Purpose – This research attempted to identify the most critical factors and their inter-relationships to ensure designing agile supply chain, especially in oil and gas industry. This factors identification process is performed through developing a conceptual framework and the use of Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM) tool. Design/methodology/approach – This study is conducted through an extensive literature review and questionnaires survey to identify and refine the critical factors that ensure the agile supply chain in oil and gas industry. In addition, several brainstorming sessions with the experts in the field of oil and gas industries were organized with the objective to interpret the contextual inter-relationships between the identified factors. The outcomes from the literature reviews, interview questions and experts’ opinions were used to develop a diagraph and MICMAC analysis to know the drivers of agility in supply chain. Findings –From this study, 34 enablers and 12 factors were identified, which are responsible to ensure agile supply chain in oil and gas industry. Out of these identified factors, top management commitment, strategic alignment, competency of management and integration of information and systems technology are found to be the critical drivers of supply chain agility. On the other hand, government regulations, transportation and logistics flexibility and production planning and control falls under the category of dependent factors. Originality/value – The identified factors and their interrelationships can be a valuable aid to ensure and measure the agility in supply chain, especially in oil and gas industry. These identified factors and their defined consequences will help managers and concerned authorities in oil and gas industry to take better decision to improve the agility level of their supply chain.©2020 Springer Nature. This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management. The final authenticated version is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40171-020-00247-5fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

A survey of simulation techniques in commerce and defence

Despite the developments in Modelling and Simulation (M&S) tools and techniques over the past years, there has been a gap in the M&S research and practice in healthcare on developing a toolkit to assist the modellers and simulation practitioners with selecting an appropriate set of techniques. This study is a preliminary step towards this goal. This paper presents some results from a systematic literature survey on applications of M&S in the commerce and defence domains that could inspire some improvements in the healthcare. Interim results show that in the commercial sector Discrete-Event Simulation (DES) has been the most widely used technique with System Dynamics (SD) in second place. However in the defence sector, SD has gained relatively more attention. SD has been found quite useful for qualitative and soft factors analysis. From both the surveys it becomes clear that there is a growing trend towards using hybrid M&S approaches

Supply chains : ago-antagonistic systems through co-opetition game theory lens

Supply chain configurations, as hybrid governance structures, allow companies to be sufficiently integrated while keeping a certain level of flexibility. This enables them, on one hand, to converge towards common interests through the development of cooperation; and on the other hand, to diverge on their own interests by remaining in competition. This dynamics generates an ago-antagonistic system where both of these two concepts, namely cooperation and competition, simultaneously drive the supply chain. In the present article, this system is analyzed by using the co-opetition game theory developed by Brandenburger and Nalebuff (1996) in order to highlight the importance of such an apprehension of the supply chain approach.Supply chain; cooperation; competition; ago-antagonistic approach; co-opetition game theory

Global supply chain risk management: an approach on how global firms manage the complexity of their worldwide operations

JEL Classification: M11 e L22The global supply chain risk management field is crucial for the supply chain sustainability, however, it is yet poorly explored, especially when it comes to matching the literature studies with empirical observations. The complexity inherent to these supply chains turn the studies and analyzes of risk-related issues, such as risk exposure, perception and its management strategies, time-to-time more significant to building a resilient and sustainable chain. In order to develop a coherent and relevant contribution for the literature, this dissertation provides three case studies of three companies from different industries. These case studies provide a qualitative approach of the firms’ risk perception and their management strategies. After the exposure of each of the three firms supply chain scenario, it is developed an analysis of the case studies, taking into account what is suggested and advised by former researchers in this field. The findings of this research indicate that the three companies do not dominate the existing supply chain risk management theoretical framework, nor fully apply risk management dynamics and strategies proposed by researchers. Instead, on average, they know in detail what are the risk-related events likely to have impacts onto their supply chains; moreover, their risk management strategies seem to be effective on both avoiding impacts and overcoming barriers and disruptions. On the other hand, the researchers’ and companies’ mindset converge on betting on cooperation/collaboration and communication/information sharing as builders of visibility, flexibility and agility into a supply chain, finally improving its resilience and reducing its risk exposure.O campo da gestão do risco na cadeia global de abastecimento é fundamental para a sua sustentabilidade, entretanto, ainda figura um campo pouco explorado, principalmente quando se trata de avaliar se a teoria se adequa à prática. A complexidade inerente a essas cadeias faz com que o estudo dos seus riscos seja cada vez mais significante para construir uma cadeia de abastecimento resiliente e sustentável. A fim de desenvolver uma contribuição relevante para a literatura, este trabalho apresenta três estudos de caso de três empresas de diferentes indústrias. Para esta metodologia foi utilizada uma abordagem qualitativa para compreender a perceção do risco por parte das empresas, e suas respetivas estratégias para os gerir. Segue-se à exposição do cenário da cadeia de abastecimento das três empresas uma análise dos estudos de caso, com base no que é aconselhado pelos pesquisadores desta área. Por fim, os resultados deste trabalho indicam que as três empresas não dominam o arcabouço teórico do campo da gestão do risco na cadeia de abastecimento, nem mesmo aplicam a fundo as estratégias propostas pelos pesquisadores. Todavia, as empresas parecem conhecer detalhadamente os riscos aos quais estão expostas e, ainda, as estratégias adotadas para gerir estes riscos mostram-se eficientes tanto em evitar disrupções quanto em superar barreiras e dificuldades. Contudo, a mentalidade dos pesquisadores e empresas convergem em apostar na cooperação e comunicação como pontos chave para desenvolver a visibilidade, flexibilidade e agilidade numa cadeia de abastecimento, aprimorando, em última instância, sua resiliência e diminuindo sua exposição aos riscos

The impact of information technology resources on SMEs' innovation performance

This work aims to develop a research framework to examine the impact of information technology resources on the innovation performance of Saudi small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs). SMEs innovation capability influences growth and technological progress (Bruque & Moyano, 2007). However, many developing countries exhibit moderate or even low innovation performance. For instance, Saudi Arabia is ranked 54th by the Global Innovation Index (GII 2011). Innovation systems studies focus on the alignment between the interactions of innovation actors with their constantly changing environment toward better innovation performance (Etzkowitz & Leydesdorff, 2000). The dynamic capabilities of organisations have been highlighted as a crucial characteristic that helps to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage (Teece et al., 1997). The indirect impact IT resources on innovation performance represents an attractive research area (Benitez-Amado et al., 2010). Therefore, we argue that a closer look at Saudi SMEs information technology resources and their impact on the firm dynamic capabilities and innovation performance would make a significant contribution to existing knowledge. Areas such as the organisation strategies of developing countries, innovation management, dynamic capabilities, open innovation and strategic information systems are few examples of areas that might benefit from this work