Ordering policies for a dual sourcing supply chain with disruption risks

Purpose: The main purpose of this article is to explore the trade-off between ordering policies and disruption risks in a dual-sourcing network under specific (or not) service level constraints, assuming that both supply channels are susceptible to disruption risks. Design/methodology/approach: Stochastic newsvendor models are presented under both the unconstrained and fill rate constraint cases. The models can be applicable for different types of disruptions related among others to the supply of raw materials, the production process, and the distribution system, as well as security breaches and natural disasters. Findings: Through the model, we obtain some important managerial insights and evaluate the value of contingency strategies in managing uncertain supply chains. Originality/value: This paper attempts to combine explicitly disruption management with risk aversion issues for a two-stage supply chain with two unreliable suppliers.Peer Reviewe

Simulation of learning in supply partnerships

This paper introduces a general, formal treatment of dynamic constraints, i.e., constraints on the state changes that are allowed in a given state space. Such dynamic constraints can be seen as representations of "real world" constraints in a managerial context. The notions of transition, reversible and irreversible transition, and transition relation will be introduced. The link with Kripke models (for modal logics) is also made explicit. Several (subtle) examples of dynamic constraints will be given. Some important classes of dynamic constraints in a database context will be identified, e.g. various forms of cumulativity, non-decreasing values, constraints on initial and final values, life cycles, changing life cycles, and transition and constant dependencies. Several properties of these dependencies will be treated. For instance, it turns out that functional dependencies can be considered as "degenerated" transition dependencies. Also, the distinction between primary keys and alternate keys is reexamined, from a dynamic point of view.

Comparing IT Supplier Selection Criteria in Single- Versus Multi-Sourcing Constellations: An Empirical Study

Although information technology (IT) outsourcing is widely applied by companies and has been intensively researched, there has been little scientific research on the differences in single- versus multi-sourcing constellations. Furthermore, linear extension of single-sourcing to multi-sourcing is limited, despite the fact that companies utilize multi-sourcing more frequently in recent times. This empirical research aims to increase the understanding of differences in single- versus multi-sourcing constellations based on the relevance of IT supplier selection criteria for application development and maintenance as well as infrastructure services. Based on a literature review, an empirical survey of sourcing professionals was conducted. Combined inferential and descriptive statistical analysis indicates a significant difference of the relevance of various IT supplier selection criteria in single- versus multi-sourcing constellations. The study reveals that criteria related to supplier-risk are more relevant in single-sourcing, while criteria related to price are dominant in multi-sourcing constellations

Globalisation: Recent traits and challenges

This special issue gathers together twelve papers that revisit a range of core topics in the field of international economics. These papers were presented at the XIX Conference on International Economics (CIE) held in Vila‐Real (Spain) on 28th–29th June 2018. The Conference was co‐organized by researchers from the Spanish Association of International Economics and Finance (AEEFI) and the Institute of International Economics (IEI). The selected papers are stimulating pieces that shed new light on recent trends in globalization as well as some of the main challenges that need to be faced in the presence of the multiple yield curves that emerged after the credit crunch. The CIE also included two keynote lectures by Laura Alfaro (Harvard Business School) and Gabriel Quirós (IMF) as well as 64 selected contributions

A Resource-Based Analysis of Outsourcing: Evidence from Case Studies

The central role that information technology plays in the management of companies, the massive investments that are required, and a preoccupation for rationalization explain in good part the renewed interest in the strategies used for information systems sourcing. In-house provision is often seen as the best way to provide an organization with IT services that are well adapted to support its business activities while preserving its trademark processes and know-how. On the other hand, critics argue that a better solution is to outsource those IT activities to specialists, thus permitting the company to focus on its core business. The choice of a sourcing mode has an impact on the ability of the firm to implement its systems and ultimately to compete in its field of business. In order to better understand under what conditions a firm should choose one sourcing mode over another, we argue that it is necessary to analyze the interactions between a firm's competencies and the strategic value of those competencies. This is investigated using evidence from 21 information system projects. The0501n findings were that the best predictor of success and failure, by far, is the fit between the governance mode and the position of the project in the value/availability matrix. Another interesting finding is that no sourcing mode per se seems to lead to successful outcomes. It is always a matter of selecting the appropriate mode for each situation. De plus en plus, les technologies de l'information sont au centre des préoccupations des gestionnaires. Elles commandent des investissements massifs et peuvent être gérées de diverses manières. Traditionnellement, une gestion interne était favorisée pour fournir à l'organisation des services sur mesure et pour protéger des pratiques uniques, permettant à l'organisation de se différencier. Les détracteurs de cette approche soutiennent que l'impartition est un meilleur choix. L'impartition permet à la firme de se concentrer sur ses compétences de bases tout en lui donnant accès à des spécialistes de pointe. Pour mieux comprendre le lien entre les compétences de la firme et l'impartition, 21 projets sont étudiés. Les résultats indiquent que le meilleur prédicteur de succès est l'adéquation entre le mode de gestion et le profil de compétences de la firme.Outsourcing of IT, resource-based theory, IT resources, Impartition, approche centrée sur les resources, étude de cas

Assessing the Economic Potential of Nutrient-Dense Foods Supply Chain in Ethiopia

The prevalence of child malnutrition in Africa is alarming. Currently, almost six million children under age five are suffering from this problem in Ethiopia. Reducing child malnutrition requires a multi-pronged approach that includes nutritious foods, improved hygiene, and breastfeeding. Poverty and food insecurity have severely constrained the access to nutritious diets that have high energy, protein, and other micronutrient content. Diets based mainly on plant sources may not meet nutritional requirements and need to be improved, either through adding protein from animal sources such as milk powder or through supplemental nutrition products. One option is the formulation of ready-to-use foods (RUFs), which have been a tool to treat malnutrition and undernutrition. RUF is a nutrient-dense food that contains all the essential nutrients for growth and development that can also serve as a food supplement to pregnant women and the elderly who lack essential food nutrients in their diets. The food is packaged conveniently and does not require cooking or additional preparation. Increasing access to these foods has become a challenge to producers and buyers. Cost remains one of the main barriers to greater access, further complicated by constrained funding for procuring the products and the variability of prices of some ingredients, such as peanuts. It is, therefore, crucial to have other versions of RUTF/RUSF made from other ingredients (i.e. chickpeas, barley) that can be produced locally and meet the dietary needs of a target population. Therefore, the focus of the study is to identify the supply chain benefits of alternative nutrient-dense foods in the ready-to-use food supply chain. Data were collected through video interviews with producers and buyers of RUFs in the supply chain. Participants were asked open-ended questions and the responses were transcribed verbatim and analyzed. Patterns and relationships that emerge from the data were coded and analyzed using NVivo 12 plus software. The analysis of interview data reveals key challenges such as logistics, longer lead times, higher procurement costs, dislike of products by some beneficiaries and shortage of critical ingredients for formulation within the RUTF/RUSF supply chain. Despite these issues, the interviews with the stakeholders strongly indicated that alternative recipes, if developed properly, could enhance production volumes by augmenting existing products as well as increasing product accessibility by the intended beneficiaries. The insights from the interviews reveal that encouraging the development of alternative products from local ingredients would reduce some problems encountered during production and procurement, such as the shortage of critical ingredients, long lead times, and high prices of the RUTF/RUSF in the market as there are several options available to the buyers

Bargaining power and supply base diversification

In this paper, the authors examine a supply base diversification problem faced by a buyer who periodically holds auctions to award short term supply contracts among a cohort of suppliers (i.e., the supply base). To mitigate significant cost shocks to procurement, the buyer can diversify her supply base by selecting suppliers from different regions. The authors find that the optimal degree of supply base diversification depends on the buyer’s bargaining power, i.e., the buyer’s ability to choose the auction mechanism. At one extreme, when the buyer has full bargaining power and thus can dictatorially implement the optimal mechanism, she prefers to fully diversify. At the other extreme, when the buyer uses a reverse English auction with no reserve price due to her lack of bargaining power, she may consider protecting herself against potential price escalation from cost-advantaged suppliers by using a less diversified supply base. The authors find that in general the more bargaining power the buyer has to control price escalation from cost-advantaged suppliers the more she prefers a diversified supply base. This insight is shown to be robust to correlation between regional costs, asymmetry across regions, and intermediate levels of bargaining power.supply base diversification; supplier; buyer; procurement; bargaining