110 research outputs found

    Smart Retailing: a model to assess the economic sustainability of smart shelf-enabled dynamic pricing

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    Smart Retailing, a new approach to retail management that leverages digital technologies, is gaining much attention, as it enables innovation and improvements in consumersā€™ quality of life. However, the potentialities stemming from the application of such technologies are still not fully explored. Investment analyses addressing specific technologies could be useful to fill the academic gaps and guide retailers in their digital transition. This paper aims thus at evaluating the economic sustainability of investment in smart shelves, which are employed to perform dynamic pricing in presence of perishable goods. A model simulating the pricing variation in different scenarios was built and economic and financial analyses were performed to evaluate the sustainability of the investment. Data to feed the model were collected through semi-structured interviews with a smart shelf technology provider and three grocery retailers. The results show that the employment of smart shelves allows retailers to increase their profits. First, they are always able to assign to the product the price which most accurately reflects the customersā€™ willingness to pay. Second, the costs related to misplacement issues are reduced. This study contributes to the knowledge in this unexplored field by providing a model that simulates the dynamic pricing policy after the introduction of smart shelf technology and evaluates its economical sustainability. It also provides retailers who want to join the digital transformation of the stores with a useful tool to guide their investments

    Consumers' perceptions of item-level RFID Use in FMCG: A balanced perspective of benefits and risks

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    This research explores how perceived consumer benefits affect the perceived privacy risks from implementation of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags at an item-level in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) industry. Two new categories measure the benefits and risks: in-store and after-sales. These specific categories allow the respondents' willingness to accept RFID to be evaluated using a quantitative survey focused on the primary household grocery purchasers within the USA. The results suggest differences in perceptions of the in-store and after-sales risks and benefits of RFID use. While consumers are aware of privacy risks while using RFID technology, they would be willing to use the technology if sufficient benefits are available. This research moves the discussion away from a focus on consumer privacy issues to a balanced privacy/benefits approach for consumers and how that might affect their technology acceptance, suggesting that careful management of consumer benefits might allow FMCG firms to introduce RFID technology to support their global supply chains

    Internet of Things-Enabled Dynamic Performance Measurement for Real-Time Supply Chain Management - Toward Smarter Supply Chain -

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    ķ•™ģœ„ė…¼ė¬ø (ė°•ģ‚¬)-- ģ„œģšøėŒ€ķ•™źµ ėŒ€ķ•™ģ› : ź³µź³¼ėŒ€ķ•™ ģ‚°ģ—…ź³µķ•™ź³¼, 2018. 2. Park, Jinwoo.Supply chain performance measurement has become one of the most important and critical management strategies in the pursuit of perfection and in strengthening the competitive edges of supply chains to face the challenges in todays global markets. To constantly cope with the resulting rapid changes and adopt new process designs while reviving supply chain initiatives and keeping them alive, an effective real-time performance-based IT system should be developed. And there are many researches on supply chain performance measurement system based on the real-time information system. This thesis proposes a standard framework of a digitalized smart real-time performance-based system. The framework represents a new type of smart real-time monitoring and controlling performance-based IT mechanism for the next-generation of supply chain management practices with dynamic and intelligent aspects concerning strategic performance targets. The idea of this mechanism has been derived from the main concepts of traditional supply chain workflow and performance measurement systemswhere the time-based flow is greatly emphasized and considered as the most critical success factor. The proposed mechanism is called Dynamic Supply Chain Performance Mapping (DSCPM), a computerized event-driven performance-based IT system that runs in real-time according to supply chain management principles that cover all supply chain aspects through a diversity of powerful practices to effectively capture violations, and enable timely decision-making to reduce wastes and maximize value. The DSCPM is proposed to contain different types of engines of which the most important one is the Performance Practices and Applications Engine (PPAE) due to its involvement with several modules to guarantee the comprehensiveness of the real-time monitoring system. Each of these modules is specified to control a specific supply chain application that is equipped with suitable real-time monitoring and controlling rules called Real-Time Performance Control Rules (RT-PCRs), which are expressed using Complex Event Processing (CEP) method. The RT-PCRs enable DSCPM to detect any interruptions or violation smartly and accordingly trigger real-time decision-making warnings or re-(actions) to control the performance and achieve a smart real-time working environment. The contributions of this dissertation are as follows: (1) building a conceptual framework to digitalize the supply chain, based on their strategic performance targets, deploying IoT technologies to convert its resources to smart-objects and therefore enable a dynamic and real-time supply chain performance measurement and management. (2) Demonstrating the feasibility of the DSCPM concerning performance targets by developing some practices and tool modules that are supplied with RT-PCRs (e.g., Real-time Demand Lead-time Analysis, Real-time Smart Decision-making Analysis (RT-SDA), Real-time Supply Chain Cost Tracking System (RT-SCCT), etc.). (3) Verifying the effectiveness of RT-PCRs in RT-SDA and RT-SCCT modules by building simulation models using AnyLogic simulation software.Chapter 1. Introduction 1 1.1 OVERVIEW 1 1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT AND MOTIVATION 4 1.3 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES 7 1.4 THESIS OUTLINE 11 Chapter 2. Background and Literature Review 12 2.1 INTRODUCTION 12 2.2 SUPPLY CHAIN PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT 13 2.3 PROCESS-ORIENTED SCPM AND SCOR MODEL 25 2.4 IOT AND SCM 31 Chapter 3. Performance-based IoT Deployment for Digital Supply Chain Transformation 40 3.1 INTRODUCTION 40 3.2 DIGITAL SC TRANSFORMATION FRAMEWORK 42 3.3 FRAMEWORK DEMONSTRATION USING A THEORETICAL CASE STUDY 65 3.4 CONCLUSION 71 Chapter 4. IoT-enabled Dynamic Supply Chain Performance Mapping based on Complex Event Processing 73 4.1 INTRODUCTION 73 4.2 REAL-TIME ENTERPRISE INTEGRATION 74 4.3 INTEGRATION OF DSCPM IN REAL-TIME SUPPLY CHAIN INFRASTRUCTURE 76 4.4 DYNAMIC SUPPLY CHAIN PERFORMANCE MAPPING FRAMEWORK (DSCPM) 77 4.5 CONCLUSION 107 Chapter 5. DSCPM-enabled Smart Real-time Performance Measurement Environment 109 5.1 DSCPM-ENABLED REAL-TIME TIME AND PERFORMANCE-BASED ANALYSIS FRAMEWORK 109 5.2 DSCPM-ENABLED REAL-TIME SC COSTS TRACKING SYSTEM 132 Chapter 6. Managing Perishability in Dairy Supply Chain using DSCPM Framework (a case study scenario) 152 6.1 INTRODUCTION 152 6.2 ASSUMPTIONS AND NOTATION 153 6.3 SIMULATION EXPERIMENTS 158 6.4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 161 6.5 A NEW APPROACH, FOR DESIGNING AND MANAGING PERISHABLE PRODUCTS INVENTORY SYSTEM 168 6.6 DECISIONS SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS 172 6.7 IOT COSTS-BENEFITS ANALYSIS 173 6.8 CONCLUSIONS 176 Chapter 7. Conclusions 179 7.1 CONCLUSION 179 7.2 FUTURE RESEARCH 182 Bibliography 184Docto

    Exploring the potential of using radio frequency identification technology in retail supply chains - A Packaging Logistics perspective

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    In recent years RFID technology has attracted interest from the retail industry where it is being presented as a possible key to creating more efficient and effective retail supply chains. If RFID technology is to be implemented in packaging throughout retail supply chains, there is a need to develop an understanding of how and why the technology affects activities and processes within retail supply chains. Accordingly, the overall purpose of this licentiate thesis is to explore how the application of RFID technology to packaging could affect packaging logistics activities in retail supply chains. The packaging logistics activities discussed in this licentiate thesis are those related to ambient fast-moving consumer goods, from the product-filling point at the manufacturerā€™s, where the product is merged with the primary packaging, to the point of sale at retail outlets, where the products are sold to the end consumer. This thesis is based on multiple research strategies; a case study and a modelling and simulation study. The case study was conducted to describe and gain an in-depth understanding of and insight into existing packaging logistics activities in retail supply chains. A Dutch retail supply chain was chosen as a single-case study. The single-case study was both data-triangulated and investigator-triangulated with three Swedish case studies to further broaden the understanding of packaging logistics activities in retail supply chains. The case study resulted in a framework of packaging logistics activities in retail supply chains. The modelling and simulation study was conducted to describe what, how and why packaging logistics activities are affected when RFID technology is applied to packaging. A conceptual model and a simulation model were developed in the modelling and simulation study. The conceptual model describes and analyses ā€œcould-beā€ processes and activities in retail supply chains, whereas the simulation model primarily describes and anal

    Retail Inventory Control Strategies

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    Despite using computerized merchandise control systems in retail, the rate of stockouts has remained stagnant. The inability to satisfy customer needs has caused a loss of 4% in potential revenue and resulted in dissatisfied customers. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore cost-effective inventory control strategies used by discount retail managers. The conceptual framework that grounded the study was chaos theory, which helped identify why some business leaders rely on forecasting techniques or other cost-effective strategies as an attempt to prevent stockouts. The target population was comprised of discount retail managers located throughout northeast Jacksonville, Florida. Purposeful sampling led to selecting 6 retail managers who successfully demonstrated cost-effective inventory control strategies for mitigating stockouts. Data were collected through face-to-face semistructured interviews, company websites, and company documents. Analysis included using nodes to identify similar words and axial-coding to categorize the nodes into themes. Transcript evaluation, member checking, and methodological triangulation strengthened the credibility of the findings. Five themes emerged: (a) internal stockout reduction strategies, (b) external stockout reduction strategies, (c) replenishment system strategies, (d) inventory optimization strategies, and (e) best practices for inventory control. This study may contribute to positive social change by improving inventory management, which may reduce demand fluctuations in the supply chain and reduce logistics costs in the transportation of freight thereby leading to improved customer satisfaction

    Blockchainā€™s Roles in Meeting Key Supply Chain Management Objectives

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    Arrival of blockchain is set to transform supply chain activities. Scholars have barely begun to systematically assess the effects of blockchain on various organizational activities. This paper examines how blockchain is likely to affect key supply chain management objectives such as cost, quality, speed, dependability, risk reduction, sustainability and flexibility. We present early evidence linking the use of blockchain in supply chain activities to increase transparency and accountability. Case studies of blockchain projects at various phases of development for diverse purposes are discussed. This study illustrates the various mechanisms by which blockchain help achieve the above supply chain objectives. Special emphasis has been placed on the roles of the incorporation of the IoT in blockchain-based solutions and the degree of deployment of blockchain to validate individualsā€™ and assetsā€™ identities

    An exploration of big data practices in retail sector

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    Connected devices, sensors, and mobile apps make the retail sector a relevant testbed for big data tools and applications. We investigate how big data is, and can be used in retail operations. Based on our state-of-the-art literature review, we identify four themes for big data applications in retail logistics: availability, assortment, pricing, and layout planning. Our semi-structured interviews with retailers and academics suggest that historical sales data and loyalty schemes can be used to obtain customer insights for operational planning, but granular sales data can also benefit availability and assortment decisions. External data such as competitorsā€™ prices and weather conditions can be used for demand forecasting and pricing. However, the path to exploiting big data is not a bed of roses. Challenges include shortages of people with the right set of skills, the lack of support from suppliers, issues in IT integration, managerial concerns including information sharing and process integration, and physical capability of the supply chain to respond to real-time changes captured by big data. We propose a data maturity profile for retail businesses and highlight future research directions

    system dynamics simulation for investigating RFID potential in aircraft dis-assembly operations

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    One of the main issues in modern supply chain management is the recovery of value from the end of life (EOL) or defective products by re-manufacturing, reassembly, re-use and recycling. Despite the fact that reverse logistics would impose extra amount of complexity to the supply chain, it has captured a lot of attention as it is possible to recycle the materials where there are limited resources. Through reverse logistics companies will be able to minimize the overall production costs through reclaiming the unsold or defective productsā€™ values which in turn may lead to more productivity and growth, and more importantly reverse logistics may improve the quality of end products by finding the faults of the system and the points which directly or indirectly affect the ultimate product. However, a number of challenges arise with reverse logistics; integration of the whole supply chain including both inbound activities and outbound activities, creating incentives for return and reuse, huge amount of inspections and imposed complexity to the supply chain as a whole since the number of partners may increase. On the other hand, technologies such as barcodes, radio frequency identification (RFID), global positioning system (GPS), etc, have made it easier to cope with the aforementioned challenges and complexities of reverse supply chains. In this thesis, our goal is to examine the potential of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology on dis-assembly operations of aircraft at the End of Life using system dynamics simulation. In particular, a case study on how RFID technology affects the time of dis-assembly of a single helicopter has been conducted in cooperation with Bell Helicopters. The proposed System dynamics simulation model is developed using ā€œAnyLogicā€. The results of our study show that employing RFID technology will lead to a reduction in total dis-assembly time of a helicopter. However, bringing motivations to the market to employ RFID technology in industries and developing trust in the promising benefits and results will require more challenging planning and managerial activities. Keywords: Reverse logistics (RL), RFID, aviation industry, end of life products (EOL), System Dynamics simulatio

    The diffusion and impact of radio frequency identification in supply chains : a multi-method approach

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    As a promising and emerging technology for supply chain management, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a new alternative to existing tracking technologies and also allows a range of internal control and supply chain coordination. RFID has generated a significant amount of interest and activities from both practitioners and researchers in recent years. However, the factors important for its diffusion in supply chains and the impact on supply chain performance have not been well understood. Many organizations are reluctant to participate in supply-chain level RFID projects because of this lack of understanding. My dissertation proposes to help understand RFID's use in supply chains through a multi-method approach - an empirical study to understand the diffusion and impact of RFID and a simulation study to understand RFID's impact on inventory accuracy in supply chains. My first study on the factors influencing RFID adoption decision showed that compatibility, trading partner's RFID capability, trading partner power, competitive pressure, transaction volume and financial resources are significant factors for RFID adoption in a supply chain context. The second study which looked into the post-adoption use of RFID for supply chain has found that adoption cost, complexity, organizational readiness, external pressure and trading partner readiness significantly influence RFID infusion, which finally improves firm's supply chain process performance. The third study used a simulation model to examine RFID's impact on inventory management in supply chains. The key findings were that the benefits reaped from RFID heavily depend on product type which implements RFID. The above findings indicate that organizations have to carefully evaluate their RFID project with different factors identified in this dissertation to successfully implement RFID and derive its full benefits. My dissertation has contributed to RFID research in particular, and supply chain technology adoption in general, by showing the importance of trading partner issues for supply chain technology diffusion and use
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