From Iconic Design to Lost Luggage: Innovation at Heathrow Terminal 5

This paper aims to contribute to understanding of how organizations respond to risk and uncertainty by combining and balancing routines and innovation. It shows how approaches to risk and uncertainty are shaped by the contractual framework in large multi-party projects. The paper addresses a gap in the literature on how risk and uncertainty is managed to deliver innovation in large-scale ‘megaprojects’. These megaprojects are notorious for high rates of failure that conventionally evoke organizational strategies avoiding risks and uncertainties. Yet strategies for managing risk and uncertainty are essential to the routines and innovation that overcome the challenges of successfully delivering large-scale, complex projects.

Managing business relationships in uncertainty: An Indonesian traditional banana supply chain study

The purpose of the study is to explore how members of traditional supply chains treat uncertainty and manage their relationships in responding to uncertainty. Using case study analysis on dyads across the supply chain, it was found that mechanisms such as tolerance, postponed payment, and money lending allow supply chain members to maintain long-term, reliable relationships and thus, gain competitive advantage. The results show how uncertainty is managed in an informal economy in Indonesia

Reform of the Electricity Supply Industry

Electricity markets around the world are becoming more competitive, partly in response to technological changes. Successful restructuring requires an understanding of the sources of monopoly power in the industry, and separation of competitive from natural monopoly elements. Competitive wholesale electricity markets require transparent regulatory and cross-subsidy mechanisms. Such changes in turn make public ownership less relevant for protecting consumers. Competitive markets are also more risky for owners, and governments are not ideally suited to financing large and very risky business ventures. The arguments are illustrated by reference to the reforms undertaken in Australia in the last decade.

Optimal pricing and capacity choice for a public service under risk of interruption

We develop rules for pricing and capacity choice for an interruptible service that recognise the interdependence between consumers' perceptions of system reliability and their market behaviour. Consumers post ex ante demands, based on their expectations on aggregate demand. Posted demands are met if ex post supply capacity is sufficient. However, if supply is inadequate all ex ante demands are proportionally interrupted. Consumers' expectations of aggregate demand are assumed to be rational. Under reasonable values for the consumer's degrees of relative risk aversion and prudence, demand is decreasing in supply reliability. We derive operational expressions for the optimal pricing rule and the capacity expansion rule. We show that the optimal price under uncertainty consists of the optimal price under certainty plus a markup that positively depends on the degrees of relative risk aversion, relative prudence and system reliability. We also show that any reliability enhancing investment - though lowering the operating surplus of the public utility - is socially desirable as long as it covers the cost of investment.D11, D24, D45, H42, Q25

Examining the performance of coffee supply chains in Central Vietnam: an exploratory study

This study examines the performance of Vietnam coffee supply chains and the constraints to facilitate a sustainable coffee industry. An exploratory study was conducted in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. The study found that moving down the supply chain, the marketing margin increased to cover the uncertainty of price inherent in highly volatile markets. Farmers failed to meet downstream requirement for quality and quantity. Supply chain members are bonded by trust through enduring long-term relationships

Integration in the Absence of Institutions: China-North Korea Cross-Border Exchange

Theory tells us that weak rule of law and institutions deter cross-border integration, deter investment relative to trade, and inhibit trade finance. Drawing on a survey of more than 300 Chinese enterprises that are doing or have done business in North Korea, we consider how informal institutions have addressed these problems in a setting in which rule of law and institutions are particularly weak. Given the apparent reliance on hedging strategies, the rapid growth in exchange witnessed in recent years may prove self-limiting, as the effectiveness of informal institutions erode and the risk premium rises. Institutional improvement could have significant welfare implications, affecting the volume, composition, and financial terms of cross-border exchange.economic integration, property rights, institutions, transition, China, North Korea

Assessing and Mitigating Risk in a Design for Supply Chain Problem

Industry leaders in today's global market strive for continuous improvement in order to remain competitive. One method used by firms for cutting costs and improving efficiency is Design for Supply Chain (DFSC). The objective of this methodology is to design the supply chain in parallel to designing or redesigning a new product. Risk is an inherent element of this DFSC process. Although supply chain risk models and new product development risk models are available, there are few models that consider the combined effect of risk to product development and the supply chain. A gap in the body of knowledge could be filled by a DFSC and risk model that looks at design, supply chain and risk concurrently. This research develops such a model and tests it on two data sets. The most critical risks to incorporate in the model were found through a review of the literature and a survey of industry experts. The model consists of two components. The first component is a Mixed Integer Programming (MIP) model which makes the DFSC decisions while simultaneously considering time-to-market risk, supplier reliability risk and strategic exposure risk. The results from the MIP are then used in the second model component which is a discrete event simulation. The simulation tests the robustness of the MIP solution for supplier capacity risk and demand risk. When a decision maker is potentially facing either of these risks the simulation shows whether it is best to use an alternative solution or proceed with the MIP solution. The model provides analytical results to be used by decision makers, but also allows decision makers to use their own judgment to select the best option for overall profitability. It is shown that the DFSC model with risk is a powerful decision making tool

Understanding Managerial Decisions about Global Sourcing: Offshoring and Reshoring of Production

As international commerce continues to emerge due to telecommunication and transportation breakthroughs, the eagerness of companies to send particular business functions offshore increases. Offshoring is the removal of a company function (particularly, manufacturing) from a domestic location to a remote destination. Since many developing economies contain low labor wages, companies in the United States and Europe are able to leverage cost savings by paying low compensation to foreign production employees. The low cost concept, though, does not always offer significant financial reward. For companies with particular product types, business models, or limited experience, offshoring proves to be an expensive mistake that is difficult to reverse. Even so, some U.S. enterprises are reshoring their production function to combat the issues faced in the foreign manufacturing sector. This study aims to investigate the problems of offshoring and proposes a “systems-view” decision framework for global sourcing

Successful acquisition of IT systems

School of Managemen