A conceptual information sharing framework to improve supply chain security collaboration

Modern Supply Chains are critical in terms of efficiency, economic activities and commercial impact, particularly in case of security incidents. Inland terminals, commercial ports and dry ports constitute key gateways for the transportation flows in these modern supply chains and are require enhanced security procedures. This paper develops a framework that facilitates the sharing of information among various supply chain stakeholders, which is expected to improve the security level from a value chain perspective. In this context, we propose the upgrade of the current security strategies utilizing existing processes, equipment in order to minimise time and cost currently needed but more importantly improving the level of security in the supply chain. A conceptual rule and role-based data fusion framework is developed enabling the seamless and timely exchange of messages. The proposed Data Fusion Framework has a simple architecture that supports quick integration to either network-based, distributed systems or conventional stand-alone systems and adheres to common data fusion principles. The proposed framework considers different components (e.g. sensors, algorithms and fusing procedures) in an equipment agnostic approach so as to enable easy access and easy usage of security information.N/

Analysis of sourcing and procurement practices : a cross industry framework

Thesis (M. Eng. in Logistics)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2006.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 159-161).This thesis presents and analyzes the various practices in the functional area of Sourcing and Procurement. The 21 firms that are studied operate in one of the following industries: Aerospace, Apparel/ Footwear, Automotive, Computers, Communications Equipment, Consumer Packaged Goods, Pharmaceuticals, Petroleum and Retail. Those firms have been chosen for their overall supply chain excellence and the research builds on empirical data from case studies, literature survey and interviews with industry experts. By assessing the empirical data and the various practices, a framework is proposed to address the different options that the firms can use relative to the organizational structure of the Procurement Department. These options are based on a combination of the importance of the inputs and the supplier/buyer power differential. Lastly, this thesis identifies the factors that affect these options. Key Words: Procurement, Sourcing, Organizational Architecture, Corporate Strategy.by Ioannis G. Koliousis.M.Eng.in Logistic

The law of conservation of energy towards defining maritime cluster dynamics

Industrial clusters have for many decades been considered as the stepping stone for regional and national competitiveness, due to the fact that within these systems of economies, many propitious qualities seem to flourish. Competition and cooperation are witnessed to complement one another, firms can thrive through the marvels of knowledge creation and innovation, and positive externalities are seen to blossom into an interconnected system of collective prosperity. This system bears semblance to many occurrences in nature, and thus can guide the reflection of natural dynamics that may pave an industrial cluster’s threads. Maritime clusters in particular, are distinct vanguards of mutualism and shared opulence for the locality wherein they spawned. For these reasons, they have attracted multi-faceted attention from researchers, practitioners and policy-makers, in a dual attempt; to better understand the phenomenon and subsequently recreate it, if at all possible. Through this process, a plethora of studies have been conducted, each relinquishing its part to formulate the modern understanding of maritime clusters and to contribute towards the subsequent theory. The latter has encapsulated analysis from many disciplines that is sometimes riddled with paradox. Seldom does a cluster manifest itself without some kind of paradoxical component, and enigmatic discrepancies accompany maritime clusters inherently. Through this paper, an introductory explanation of the latter is attempted, by the scarcity principle’s applicability within maritime clusters, as a version of the law of conservation of energy. This pursuit accompanies an extraction of a structured critical literature review and the subsequent formulation of a governing model

Blockchain Agency Theory

Longstanding assumptions underlying strategic alliances, such as agency theory, are actively being revoked by dynamics in the new economy. The mechanism of inter-firm cooperation is increasingly being altered by radical developments in blockchains and artificial intelligence among other technologies. To capture and address this shift, this review takes a problematisation approach and focuses wholly on the pertinence of agency theory. First, it begins by acknowledging the established corpus in the area before, second, appraising the seven long-held assumptions in the principal-agent relationship encompassing (1) self-interest, (2) conflicting goals, (3) bounded rationality, (4) information asymmetry, (5) pre-eminence of efficiency, (6) risk aversion and (7) information as a commodity. Third, to add a fresh perspective, the review proceeds to proffer seven assumptions to advance a novel ‘Blockchain Agency Theory’ that would better describe new attributes and relaxed agency behaviour in blockchain alliances. These counter assumptions are (1) common interests, (2) congruent goals, (3) unbounded rationality, (4) information symmetry, (5) smart contracts, (6) mean risk and (7) information availability. In the fourth part, the prior audience of principals and agents is appraised and this culminates into, fifth, a consideration of a new audience of blockchain agency in algocratic environments. Altogether, the seven new assumptions extend and provoke new agency thinking among scholars and blockchain practitioners alike

AI Based Decision Making:Combining Strategies to Improve Operational Performance

This study investigates the strategic alignment between marketing and information technology (IT) strategies and provides production and operations decision makers a model for improving operational performance. Based on a comprehensive literature review, the combined strategies were used to develop a novel decision-making framework. The hypothesised relationships of an SEM model are validated with data collected from 242 managers from various industries. An artificial intelligence (AI)–based method is developed using artificial neural networks (ANN) feeding into a decision-making framework which explores the optimality of the combined strategies. The results indicate that (a) IT strategy is positively mediated by marketing strategy on performance and (b) the organisational structure moderates the mediation of marketing strategy on performance. The analysis confirms that the extracted strategies based on the proposed framework have superior performance compared to existing strategies. This paper contributes to the literature by conceptualising and empirically testing the mediation role of marketing strategy on IT strategy, performance and operational decision-making. The use of a novel three-phase decision-making framework which uses AI processes improves operational efficiency, increases insights and enhances the decision accuracy of complex problems at the strategic level in industries such as manufacturing. It could help operations executives to apply effective decisions

Making sense of maritime supply chain: a relationship marketing approach

Building a relationship with the maritime supply chain partners is considered imperative for organisations to survive and remain competitive. Yet, several studies that examined the maritime supply chain have not adequately explored nor assessed the relationship constructs that impacts maritime supply chain performance. This study intends to fill this gap and ascertain the influence that certain relationship elements have on the maritime supply chain performance. The study is solely a desk research. After providing a general overview of maritime supply chain and its structure, relationship marketing paradigm and relationship constructs, this study examines the influence that the identified relationship constructs (i.e. trust, commitment and satisfaction) has on supply chain performance. The study asserts that the present of the identified relationship constructs (i.e. trust, commitment and satisfaction) among supply chain partners will influence supply chain performance positively. Hence, building a successful long-term relationship among maritime supply chain partners requires an understanding of these key relationship constructs