A Conceptual Framework of Reverse Logistics Impact on Firm Performance

This study aims to examine the reverse logistics factors that impact upon firm performance. We review reverse logistics factors under three research streams: (a) resource-based view of the firm, including: Firm strategy, Operations management, and Customer loyalty (b) relational theory, including: Supply chain efficiency, Supply chain collaboration, and institutional theory, including: Government support and Cultural alignment. We measured firm performance with 5 measures: profitability, cost, innovativeness, perceived competitive advantage, and perceived customer satisfaction. We discuss implications for research, policy and practice

A taxonomy of supply chain innovations

In this paper, a taxonomy of supply chain and logistics innovations was developed and presented. The taxonomy was based on an extensive literature survey of both theoretical research and case studies. The primary goals are to provide guidelines for choosing the most appropriate innovations for a company, and help companies in positioning themselves in the supply of chain innovations landscape. To this end, the three dimensions of supply chain innovations, namely the goals, supply chain attributes, and innovation attributes were identified and classified. The taxonomy allows for the efficient representation of critical supply chain innovations information, and serves the mentioned goals, which are fundamental to companies in a multitude of industries

A Case Study Of E-Supply Chain & Business Process Reengineering Of A Semiconductor Company In Malaysia

Penglibatan e-perniagaan dalam rantaian bekalan telah mewujudkan e-rantaian bekalan yang baru (e-SC) di firma-firma tempatan dan global. Due to globalization and advancement in information technology (IT), companies adopt best practices in e-business and supply chain management to be globally competitive as both are realities and prospects in 21st century

The potential of additive manufacturing in the smart factory industrial 4.0: A review

Additive manufacturing (AM) or three-dimensional (3D) printing has introduced a novel production method in design, manufacturing, and distribution to end-users. This technology has provided great freedom in design for creating complex components, highly customizable products, and efficient waste minimization. The last industrial revolution, namely industry 4.0, employs the integration of smart manufacturing systems and developed information technologies. Accordingly, AM plays a principal role in industry 4.0 thanks to numerous benefits, such as time and material saving, rapid prototyping, high efficiency, and decentralized production methods. This review paper is to organize a comprehensive study on AM technology and present the latest achievements and industrial applications. Besides that, this paper investigates the sustainability dimensions of the AM process and the added values in economic, social, and environment sections. Finally, the paper concludes by pointing out the future trend of AM in technology, applications, and materials aspects that have the potential to come up with new ideas for the future of AM explorations

Concept, Measurement, and Ideology of "National Competitiveness"

The author of this paper reviewing the perceptions of competitiveness reveals the origin and ambiguity of the concept of “national competitiveness” which is mostly confused with that of development of countries and competitiveness of their enterprises. He investigates the role of transnational companies and governments in shaping the world economic position of countries, presents a critique on the measurement of “national competitiveness” of countries, and heavily opposes the ideological use of the latter for justifying antisocial measures

TRACEABILITY, TRADE AND COOL: LESSONS FROM THE EU MEAT AND POULTRY INDUSTRY

The traditional food supply chain is arranged as a complex array of producers, handlers, processors, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers. As the food supply chain grew in complexity over time, little emphasis was placed on reserving information regarding the origin of raw materials and their transformation, often by multiple handlers, into consumer ready products. This paper provides case illustrations of the implementation of information systems for support of traceability in Europe. Emphasis is on the firm level costs and benefits as well as the broader market structure and governance issues inherent in information economics of the firm.traceability, economics of the firm, information systems, internet, food supply chain, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, International Relations/Trade, Livestock Production/Industries,

Organic produce Value Chain Analysis (OF0344)

Growth in the Organic food market has been rapid in recent years. According to the soil association, retail sales of organic food are now worth £1.2 billion – an 11% increase on the previous year. Organic Supply Chains have developed to serve different routes to the consumer. Some chains are simple and involve direct supply to the consumer through, for example, box schemes and farmer’s markets. However in the main greater complexity is involved. Some 75% of organic food is sold through the multiple retailers. Generally speaking, this introduces more stages into the supply chain and as a result there is more complexity. All organic businesses have to be profitable and this requires them to operate efficiently. The Food Chain Centre has undertaken three projects dealing with organic producers supplying through multiple retailers. The projects applied the concept of ‘lean thinking’ and ‘value chain analysis’. The projects were led by the Food Process Innovation Unit, which is part of Cardiff University’s Lean Enterprise Research Centre. The Lean Enterprise Research Centre enjoys a global reputation in the application of lean thinking and their work demonstrates that businesses can use the concept to secure long term competitive advantage. Lean thinking provides a way to do more and more with less and less – less human effort, less equipment, less time, and less space – while coming closer and closer to providing consumers with exactly what they want. In other words, the project focused on removing waste from supply chains and focusing on customer value. This is an established approach based on practices first developed in the Japanese motor industry. Lean thinking has become widespread in UK manufacturing and according to a recent survey by McKinsey it is what sets apart the best performing manufacturers. Many companies that have embraced lean thinking have delivered dramatic improvements over a three year period including: • 90% reduction in defects • 90& reduction in response time to customer orders • 75% reduction in inventory • 50% reduction in space • 50% reduction in variable costs Organic production has some unique features that challenge the lean approach. These include: • The ethical underpinning for many businesses involved in organic production • The highly regulated nature of production that prohibits many practices prevalent in conventional food production • The small scale nature of a substantial part of organic production • The environmental factor – in that organic farming also makes a major contribution to higher levels of bio-diversity and lower levels of pollution The Cardiff team are not typical consultants, neither are they experts in organic production. They are expert facilitators, guiding teams drawn from businesses and helping them to see their supply chains in new light. Each project starts from a recognisable product that consumers purchase. The three projects deal with organic carrots, potatoes and lamb. In each case more than one business is involved in getting the product to market. The project constructed a team with members drawn from each business within the supply chain and support from Cardiff University facilitators to draw a ‘process map’ of the current state of affairs, making sure to capture what is actually happening (‘warts and all’) and not what is supposed to happen. The Cardiff team then helped each project team to investigate issues such as: • Do products flow through the chain as quickly as possible or are there unnecessary hold-ups? • Do some activities add more costs than value? In which case what can be done about it? In particular, are there activities that add absolutely no value to the consumer that can just be eliminated? • Have people learned to live with errors, treating them as inevitable or are they constantly striving to eliminate them? • Are the right quality tests in the right place in the chain and are they working effectively? • Are the right performance measures in place? • When problems are identified, are they traced to their source and dealt with? • Is the right information shared along the chain? • Are there effective ordering and stock holding policies that impose heavy costs on suppliers? The team then created a second map of how they would like the chain to operate in the future. Finally, they draw up an action plan of how to work in partnership to get there. The projects discovered that there were substantial opportunities to transform the profitability of business within the supply chain, whilst maintaining or improving customer value. These improvement opportunities include: • Re-designing the layout of factory and farm • Creating supply chain teams to focus on reducing faults at particular stages of the supply chain • Forums for customers and suppliers to work jointly on improvement projects • Agreeing to exchange information that is currently unavailable in a practical format • Collecting new performance measures and sharing these more widely • Making better use of Information Technology to share information • Working in partnership, to increase long term commitment to supply chain objective

TRACEABILITY AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN THE MEAT SUPPLY CHAIN: IMPLICATIONS FOR FIRM ORGANIZATION AND MARKET STRUCTURE

The traditional food supply chain is arranged as a complex array of producers, handlers, processors, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers. As the food supply chain grew in complexity over time, little emphasis was placed on preserving information regarding the origin of raw materials and their transformation, often by multiple handlers, into consumer-ready products. This paper provides case illustrations of the implementation of information systems for support of traceability in Europe. Observations on these firms coupled with the literature on information asymmetry and transactions costs is used to provide insights into how traceability implementation might affect U.S. meat-industry structure.Agribusiness, Industrial Organization,

A system dynamics approach for improving efficiency of total quality management (TQM)

This paper investigates a system dynamics model to evaluate efficiency of Total Quality Management (TQM) for the enterprise. Previous studies reveal that, quality efforts, information symmetry, the gap between performance and the inferences from enterprise affect Total Quality Management Index (TQMI). Some factors such as advertisement, cultural values, economic development, supply chain management and education affect information symmetry and other factors such as customer satisfaction, society, human resources, quality management, quality educations and management expectations can improve quality. Also the gap between desirable and actual level of customer satisfaction, vendor satisfaction and human resource satisfaction can decrease TQMI. Hence the objective of this paper is to develop a total modeling approach using the concept of System Dynamic by applying the Vensim PLE version to simulate different decision making policies. To find proper actions by which the firm can achieve his objectives, the TQMI can be calculated. Then the proper action can be driven by the decision makers

Strategies for sustainable socio-economic development and mechanisms their implementation in the global dimension

The authors of the book have come to the conclusion that it is necessary to effectively use modern approaches to developing and implementation strategies of sustainable socio-economic development in order to increase efficiency and competitiveness of economic entities. Basic research focuses on economic diagnostics of socio-economic potential and financial results of economic entities, transition period in the economy of individual countries and ensuring their competitiveness, assessment of educational processes and knowledge management. The research results have been implemented in the different models and strategies of supply and logistics management, development of non-profit organizations, competitiveness of tourism and transport, financing strategies for small and medium-sized enterprises, cross-border cooperation. The results of the study can be used in decision-making at the level the economic entities in different areas of activity and organizational-legal forms of ownership, ministries and departments that promote of development the economic entities on the basis of models and strategies for sustainable socio-economic development. The results can also be used by students and young scientists in modern concepts and mechanisms for management of sustainable socio-economic development of economic entities in the condition of global economic transformations and challenges