Hamza Salim Interview

Bio: Hamza J. Salim is a Palestinian artist, architect, and community based activist from Chicago, Illinois. He earned his masters in Architecture from the University of Illinois at Chicago and his work has been exhibited nationally and internationally in New York, Chicago, Los Angels, London and Dubai. He is currently serving as the Project Director of the 12th Chicago Palestine Film Festival and is the Immigrant Community Coordinator at a non-for-profit social service agency, Arab American Family Services. Bio from facebook.com/HamzaJSalimStudio/info See also: http://www.hamzajsalim.com

Determinants of supply chain structure

This dissertation is a contribution to the study of manufacturing subcontracting, with particular reference to the European Automotive industrial sector. It takes as its central theme, the structure of supply chains - the way in which value addition is split amongst members of the chain. The thesis addresses a central question: What factors determine optimum structure and practice in modem-day industrial supply chains? This devolves into a number of derivative questions to which various parts of the study are addressed. With reference to 24 case study supply chains the investigation first tests whether existing theory can fully explain the changing structures. From the results of these tests a new model is postulated and then further work is carried out to validate the model. It was found that the concentration in existing theory on primarily dyadic relationships meant that when taken alone, current theory was insufficient to explain the changes in supply chain structure in the European automotive industry in the mid to late 1990s. It is felt that the work is novel in that it addresses the whole supply chain, and demonstrates the clear link between the physical structure and other determining success factors. Two methods for recording and systematically comparing both the structure and management practices in supply chains were developed - termed 'Fixed Reference Benchmark' and 'Hierarchical Structure Mapping'. These two models were tested, and used in the comparison of 24 European automotive supply chains. The results of this analysis showed the dominant factors that most heavily influenced the structure of supply chains in the European Automotive Industry to be: Criticality of component (which in turn affects the acceptability of risk), the level, and pace of development of technology for the component or system of the supply chain (which is strongly linked to bargaining power), the desire to reduce the complexity of logistics (which is also linked to acceptability of risk), the desire to reduce the cost of demand fluctuations, and the capital intensity of the production process. It is felt that this study of supply chain structures is valuable in its contribution to new knowledge on three levels. At a theoretical level, it analyses the current theory, exposing gaps and anomalies. At an empirical level it presents contemporary data that in some parts simply substantiates and in others adds to the current theory. On a practical level it aims to present a picture which is of use to practitioners making decisions on the future of individual supply chains

Development Of E-Supply Chain Collaboration Strategy In The Chinese Automotive Industry: A Theoretical Collaboration Framework

The research intends to investigate into the e-supply chain practices of the Chinese automotive industry. The analysis of the theoretical review has been carried out by using one of the qualitative research techniques, grounded theory, to understand and evaluate all of the relevant influencing factors of the collaboration strategy development. It will begin by looking at how e-business and information technology have influenced supply chain management in the automotive industry in China; what factors have affected the organisations through integrating with the e-supply chain strategy; and what requirements that organisations have to improve the efficiency of the supply chain strategies in order to gain global market advantage. Therefore, the main purpose of this research is to develop a theoretical collaboration framework for helping the Chinese automotive manufacturers to effectively manage their global collaboration supply network. This will further facilitate the integration of information technologies in the supply networks whilst keeping it flexible enough to develop a collaboration strategies framework to formulate the supply chain activities by helping the Chinese auto manufacturers to effectively manage their global supply chain and thus add value to both business and customer

What is the fate of the heavy electron at a quantum critical point?

A growing body of evidence suggests that the quantum critical behavior at the onset of magnetism in heavy fermion systems can not be understood in terms of a simple quantum spin density wave. This talk will discuss the consequences of this conclusion, touching on its possible implications in the realm of two dimensional systems and outlining current theoretical and experimental efforts to characterize the nature of the critical point in heavy fermion materials.Comment: To appear in SCES 200

Theories of non-Fermi liquid behavior in heavy fermions

I review our incomplete understanding of non-Fermi liquid behavior in heavy fermion systems at a quantum critical point. General considerations suggest that critical antiferromagnetic fluctuations do not destroy the Fermi surface by scattering the heavy electrons- but by actually breaking up the internal structure of the heavy fermion. I contrast the weak, and strong-coupling view of the quantum phase transition, emphasizing puzzles and questions that recent experiments raise.Comment: Overview talk, SCES Paris 1998. References to Sachdev and Ye adde

Breakdown of the Kondo Effect in Critical Antiferromagnets

The breakdown of the Kondo effect may be the origin of the anomalous properties of the heavy-fermion compounds at low temperatures. We study the dynamics of one impurity embedded in an antiferromagnetic host at the quantum critical point and show that the impurity is not screened and develops a power law correlation function. This suggests that the breakdown of the Kondo effect can simply be a consequence of the system's proximity to the quantum critical point.Comment: To appear in Physical Review B (Brief Reports