Arbeitsbericht Nr. 2014-02, April 2014

In diesem Beitrag wird die Erstellung eines Metamodells zur Entwicklung einer Kollaborationsplattform für die Druckbranche dargestellt. Die beschriebenen Arbeiten und Erkenntnisse sind im Rahmen des vom Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Technologie geförderten Forschungsprojekts PRINT-IT (Förderkennzeichen KF2987001ED2) entstanden. Ziel des Projekts ist die Entwicklung einer Kollaborationsplattform zur auftragsspezifischen unternehmensübergreifenden Leistungserstellung für kleine und mittelständische Unternehmen der Druckbranche. Das erstellte Metamodell dient dazu, die für die Kollaborationsplattform relevanten Objekte und Beziehungen so zu strukturieren, zu visualisieren und zu beschreiben, dass die Kommunikation über bestimmte Sachverhalte vereinfacht wird und damit Planung, Entwicklung, Anwendung und Weiterentwicklung der Kollaborationsplattform unterstützt werden. Eine besondere Eigenschaft des Metamodells ist, dass neben der Konfiguration von Dienstleistungen und Produkten durch Kunden auch die Verknüpfung von Dienstleistungs- und Produkteigenschaften mit Produktionsprozessen und Ressourcen von Anbietern berücksichtigt werden

Uncovering Relationships between Sustainable Business Practice Bundles, Organizational Culture, and Performance

abstract: Corporations work to reduce their negative impacts on the environment and society by adopting Sustainable business (SB) practices. Businesses create competitive advantages via practices such as waste minimization, green product design, compliance with regulations, and stakeholder relations. Normative models indicate that businesses should adopt similar sustainability practices, however, contingency theory suggests that effectiveness of practices depends on the context of the business. The literature highlights the importance of organizational culture as a moderating variable between SB practices and outcomes, however this link has not been empirically examined. This thesis presents the development and testing of a theoretical model, using configuration theory, that links SB practices, organizational culture, and financial performance. Published frameworks were utilized to identify SB practices in use, and the Competing Values Framework (CVF) to identify dimensions of culture. Data from 1021 Corporate Sustainability Reports from 212 companies worldwide was collected for computerized text analysis, which provided a measure of the occurrence of a specific SB practice and the four dimensions of the CVF. Hypotheses were analyzed using cluster, crosstab, and t-test statistical methods. The findings contribute significant insights to the Business and Sustainability field. Firstly, clustering of SB practice bundles identified organizations at various levels of SB practice awareness. The spectrum runs from a compliance level of awareness, to a set of organizations aware of the importance of culture change for sustainability. Top performing clusters demonstrated different priorities with regards to SB practices; these were in many cases, related to contextual factors, such as location or sector. This implies that these organizations undertook varying sustainability strategies, but all arrived at some successful level of sustainability. Another key finding was the association between the highest performing SB practice clusters and a culture dominated by Adhocracy values, corroborating theories presented in the literature, but were not empirically tested before. The results of this research offer insights into the use of text analysis to study SB practices and organizational culture. Further, this study presents a novel attempt at empirically testing the relationship between SB practices and culture, and tying this to financial performance. The goal is that this work serves as an initial step in redefining the way in which businesses adopt SB practices. A transformation of SB practice adoption will lead to major improvements in sustainability strategies, and subsequently drive change for improved corporate sustainability.Dissertation/ThesisDoctoral Dissertation Sustainability 201

An approach to strategic capacity planning using information visualization

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2002.Includes bibliographical references (p. 87-89).by Robert J. Kelly.S.M.M.B.A

Managing innovative suppliers:exploring variables and procurement practices in New Zealand construction supply chains

The research concerned semi-dyadic relations in SMEs and large companies that managed innovative suppliers in New Zealand construction supply chains. It explored effects of (independent) company variables on (mediating) procurement management variables, and also the effects of these variable types on (dependent) procurement performance variables when managing innovative suppliers. Exploratory interviews (N=5) revealed that innovation procurement seemed professional and logical within their contexts. Survey I (N=112) revealed that most case companies followed a product leadership strategy, and were equally entrepreneurial to innovative customers and innovative suppliers. They were innovative and gave innovative suppliers a dominant innovation role. They seemed to prefer radical innovations less than incremental innovations, but still somewhat more than New Zealand averages. Companies had slight preferences for new, small, or foreign suppliers for radical innovations. Innovations with supplier interactions were more beneficial to the company and the natural environment, than innovations without supplier interactions. Higher company innovation-benefits could equal higher environmental innovation-benefits. This profile differed from the profile of average companies in the construction supply chain. Survey I found weak correlations among output performance variables and process or proxy performance variables. Dependent (procurement and performance) variables were affected differently. Conversely, independent (company and procurement) variables had different effects. Different from extant literature, Survey I found limited statistically-significant effects of company variables on procurement management variables, and of these two variable types on performance. A minority (41%) of company variables affected procurement variables; only two company variables (13%) affected performance; a minority (40%) of procurement variables affected performance. Product leadership and NPD/innovation experience affected performance. Moreover, trust, lifestyle strategies and survival strategies affected procurement variables. Conversely, 27% of performance variables (satisfaction on marketing & sales; benefits for the natural environment) and 30% of procurement variables (entrepreneurial orientation with innovative suppliers, relation intensity with manufacturers, and small vs large suppliers for radical innovations) responded stronger on some company variables. Company size (250 staff) had little effects. Innovating, opportunity-seeking and trust towards innovative suppliers, and relation intensity with innovative service providers had highest effects on performance. Conversely, 46% of the performance variables (satisfaction with innovative suppliers, benefits for natural environment and company) responded stronger on innovating, opportunities-seeking and trust variables. Survey II (N=33) identified 12 procurement best-practices that respondents used for specific supplier or innovation types. Causality should be treated cautiously. Findings reflected the inconclusive results from extant literature. The research provided a nuanced and varied understanding on management of innovative suppliers, on the effects of entrepreneurial orientation to innovative suppliers, on the limited effects of company size, on the complex relations between various performance measures, and on entrepreneurship as a theoretical lens in innovation procurement. Companies had several options on how they managed their innovative suppliers. Additionally, the company characteristics and context of in this nascent research domain could be more important than commonly assumed from extant research

Proceedings of the 9th international conference on disability, virtual reality and associated technologies (ICDVRAT 2012)

The proceedings of the conferenc

PRODPROC- Product and Production Process Modeling and Configuration ⋆

Abstract. Software product configurators are an emerging technology that supports companies in deploying mass customization strategies. Such strategies need to cover the management of the whole customizable product cycle. Adding process modeling and configuration features to a product configurator may improve its ability to assist mass customization development. In this paper, we describe a modeling framework that allows one to model both a product and its production process. We first introduce our framework focusing on its process modeling capabilities. Then, we outline a possible implementation based on Constraint Logic Programming of such product/process configuration system. A comparison with some of the existing systems for product configuration and process modeling concludes the paper.