Agent-based inter-organizational systems in advanced logistics operations

“Agent-based Inter-organizational Systems (ABIOS) in Advanced Logistics Operations” explores the concepts, the design, and the role and impact of agent-based systems to improve coordination and performance of logistics operations. The dissertation consists of one conceptual study and three empirical studies. The empirical studies apply various research methods such as a multiple-case study research, coordination mechanism design, and predictive analytics using big data. The conceptual study presents a theoretical exploration and synthesis explaining the demand for inter-organizational systems (IOS) and the corresponding IOS functionalities. The first empirical study presents a multiple-case study exploring real

Contingency theories of order management, capacity planning, and exception processing in complex manufacturing environments

Technological development and market diversification increase the complexity of modern manufacturing environments. Although the popular literature on lean management practices and quality improvement programs describe numerous ways of decreasing the complexity of manufacturing processes, the complete elimination of complexity is seldom possible. Thus, one needs to understand how to mitigate the performance effects of complexity with appropriate management practices. The research questions of this dissertation ask first, what do we already know about operations management under complexity, and second, how the applicability of day-to-day operations management practices depends upon the different dimensions of complexity. The research question on the existing knowledge about operations management under complexity is answered in two steps. First, I present a comprehensive review of organization-theoretical literature on the concept of complexity. This review results in a number of propositions on different ways of managing complexity. Second, I analyze the evidence for those propositions in a systematic literature review of recent operations management research. The results of that review point to a number of contribution opportunities, which guide the empirical studies that address my second research question. The research question on the applicability of operations management practices under different kinds of complexity is addressed with three studies within the same focused sample of 163 machinery manufacturing processes. The first study examines how the applicability of different order management practices depends upon the complexity arising from product customization. The second study examines the effects of process complexity on the applicability of different capacity planning methods. The third study examines the effects of different kinds of uncertainties on the applicability of different exception processing routines. As the studied practices begin from the acquisition of orders and end in the delivery of products, they constitute a holistic view of day-to-day operations management in manufacturing firms. The empirical analyses result in three contingency-theoretical propositions. First, I argue that product configurator tools, available-to-promise verifications, and configuration management practices are only applicable with specific levels of customization in products' configurations and components. Second, I argue that rough-cut capacity planning methods are only applicable with job-shop processes, capacity requirement planning is only applicable with batch-shop processes, and finite loading methods are only applicable with bottleneck-controlled batch shops and assembly lines. Third, I argue that only formal automated exception reporting channels are applicable when urgent glitches are being resolved in production processes. Meanwhile, only formal interpersonal exception reporting channels are applicable when equivocal glitches are being resolved. The theses have immediate practical implications for managers who are responsible for production processes in complex task environments. The studies show that none of this dissertation's theses are commonly known by practitioners nor discussed in the literature. In addition to the immediate implications for the studied environments, the theses can be theoretically generalized to other environments that satisfy certain boundary conditions. Examples can be found in service production, healthcare operations, and software development. The resulting middle-range theories of operations management in complex task environments can be tested in future studies with random samples of processes from other operations management contexts

The use of the internet in small to medium-sized enterprises

Information technology, particularly the Internet has the potential to radically changethe way business is conducted, offering a competitive edge and a gateway to theglobal marketplace. The explosive growth and commercialisation of the Internet hasopened up a vast arena providing more opportunities for businesses, particularlySMEs to sell their products and service to a global audience than they would have beable to afford to reach using the traditional methods. There is tremendous potential forSMEs to harness the power of the Internet to improve their productivity and sharpentheir competitive edge in both local and international markets. The Internet is viewedas a means through which SMEs could extend their geographic reach at minimal costand to integrate and expand their business practices globally. Through such means itis argued that small companies could compete effectively against larger firms as theInternet is believed to be a great equaliser. The contribution of SMEs is extremelyimportant to the economy of many countries and their contribution cannot be overemphasised. SMEs account for more than 50% of private sector employment in theUK and are currently contributing most of the private sector employment growth.This research reports on the empirical study of SMEs usage of the Internet. Theintention is to present evidence on the current status of Internet use among SMEs andshow the factors that influence their decision to adopt the Internet in business.Although the Internet has experienced tremendous growth world wide, very littleempirical research has been conducted to examine this phenomenon in SMEs context.Questions about what SMEs are using the Internet for and what is driving them to usethe technology in their business are still lacking. It is therefore of importance thatinsight be gained into how SMEs are currently using the Internet and the factors thatinfluence their decision to adopt the Internet in business. In order to achieve theseobjectives, the research uses a quantitative and qualitative approach in order toprovide an in-depth description of how SMEs currently use the Internet and thefactors that influence their decision to adopt it. A questionnaire was used to survey 400 SMEs in the UK and 92 usable response(23%) were received. The survey result shows that communication, customer services,information gathering, and advertising are the areas the Internet is used most in SMEs.While the case study result shows that technological, organisational andenvironmental factors influence SMEs' decision to adopt the Internet. These factorsare used to develop a theoretical model for conceptualising the organisational issuesaround the adoption and use of the Internet--issues that have been largely missingfrom contemporary discussions of Internet usage in SMEs. The study thus hasimportant implications for research and practice. Specifically, the theoretical modeland findings suggest that technological and organisational factors, rather thanenvironmental factors, play a significant role in Internet adoption. Similarly, the studysuggests that practitioners will be better able to adopt the Internet in business, if theyunderstand how these factors influence its adoption and usage. The limitations of thestudy, the contributions of the research, the implications of the research findings andfuture research are discussed

Semantic discovery and reuse of business process patterns

Patterns currently play an important role in modern information systems (IS) development and their use has mainly been restricted to the design and implementation phases of the development lifecycle. Given the increasing significance of business modelling in IS development, patterns have the potential of providing a viable solution for promoting reusability of recurrent generalized models in the very early stages of development. As a statement of research-in-progress this paper focuses on business process patterns and proposes an initial methodological framework for the discovery and reuse of business process patterns within the IS development lifecycle. The framework borrows ideas from the domain engineering literature and proposes the use of semantics to drive both the discovery of patterns as well as their reuse