Manufacturing and Supply Chain Flexibility: Building an Integrative Conceptual Model Through Systematic Literature Review and Bibliometric Analysis

The purpose of this study is twofold: first, to establish the current themes on the topic of manufacturing and supply chain flexibility (MSCF), assess their level of maturity in relation to each other, identify the emerging ones and reflect on how they can inform each other, and second, to develop a conceptual model of MSCF that links different themes connect and highlight future research opportunities. The study builds on a sample of 222 articles published from 1996 to 2018 in international, peer-reviewed journals. The analysis of the sample involves two complementary approaches: the co-word technique to identify the thematic clusters as well as their relative standing and a critical reflection on the papers to explain the intellectual content of these thematic clusters. The results of the co-word analysis show that MSCF is a dynamic topic with a rich and complex structure that comprises five thematic clusters. The value chain, capability and volatility clusters showed research topics that were taking a central role in the discussion on MSCF but were not mature yet. The SC purchasing practices and SC planning clusters involved work that was more focused and could be considered more mature. These clusters were then integrated in a framework that built on the competence–capability perspective and identified the major structural and infrastructural elements of MSCF as well as its antecedents and consequences. This paper proposes an integrative framework helping managers keep track the various decisions they need to make to increase flexibility from the viewpoint of the entire value chain

A linear logic of authorization and knowledge

Abstract. We propose a logic for specifying security policies at a very high level of abstraction. The logic accommodates the subjective nature of affirmations for authorization and knowledge without compromising the objective nature of logical inference. In order to accurately model consumable authorizations and resources, we construct our logic as a modal enrichment of linear logic. We show that the logic satisfies cut elimination, which is a proof-theoretic expression of its soundness. We also demonstrate that the logic is amenable to meta-reasoning about specifications expressed in it through several examples.

Real Options at the Interface of Finance and Operations: Exploiting Embedded Supply Chain Real Options to Gain Competitiveness

Exploiting embedded supply-chain real options creates powerful opportunities for competitive manufacturing in high-cost environments. Rather than seeking competitiveness through standardization as is common to lean production, real-options reasoning explores opportunities to use supply-chain variability as a strategic weapon. We present an illustrative case study of a Swiss manufacturer of cable extrusion equipment supported by a formal real-options model that aids in valuing the embedded options that make up supply-chain flexibility: postponement, contraction, expansion, switching, and abandonment. Real-options reasoning provides a plausible retrospective rationale for the case firm's use of supply-chain flexibility that provided protection against competition from low cost, but less responsive competitors. Their intuitive real-options reasoning facilitated incorporating fuller information concerning volatility, flexibility, and control into choosing what products to make, in what quantity, and with work allocated to which supplier. The case study also highlights how competing through exploiting embedded real options requires a different managerial skill set than does competing through cost reduction. Skills such as customer communication, supplier management, and ability to ensure a smooth flow of production join the ability to reduce and control lead times as key sources of competitive advantage

Dynamic Event-based Access Control as Term Rewriting

Abstract. Despite the widespread adoption of Role-based Access Control (RBAC) models, new access control models are required for new applications for which RBAC may not be especially well suited and for which implementations of RBAC do not enable properties of access control policies to be adequately defined and proven. To address these issues, we propose a form of access control model that is based upon the key notion of an event. The access control model that we propose is intended to permit the representation of access control requirements in a distributed and changing computing environment, the proving of properties of access control policies defined in terms of our model, and direct implementations for access control checking.