An AHP-QFD integrated approach to meet three dimensional environmental value requirements in sustainable e-business modelling

It is surprising that although 'e-business' and 'sustainability' are the two current major global trends but none of the e-business modelling ideas covers the sustainability aspects of the business. Environmental value requirement is one of the three pillars of sustainability concept that must be fulfilled to achieve a fully sustainable e-business model. A little literature is available on 'sustainability of ICT' but none of them clearly explains how environmental value requirements can be identified and efficiently fulfilled to achieve sustainability in e-business. Recently, companies are successfully using Quality Function Deployment (QFD) as a powerful tool in various fields that addresses strategic and operational decisions in businesses. This research approach, therefore, uses an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) integrated QFD approach to show how environmental value requirements can be identified and efficiently fulfilled to achieve sustainability of e-business with a comprehensive case study. This approach is unique in the sense that in developing the model environmental value requirements are considered from three dimensions and environmental value concept is integrated with customer's value requirements, business's value requirements, and process's value requirements. The approach uses the case of a commercial bank in Bangladesh for the demonstration of the approach

An AHP integrated QFD approach for three dimensional blended value requirements in sustainable e-business modelling: The case of a commercial bank

Fulfillment of customer's requirements alone is not enough to be competitive in today's challenging market. Instead, blended value requirements need to be fulfilled for customer satisfaction, for efficient value process, and to achieve strategic goals including profit. On the other hand, 'e-business modelling' and 'sustainability of the business' are already established terms as e-business converts technology into economic value. Although e-business modelling and sustainability are the two major global trends still there is no common understanding about the elements that need to be used for a sustainable e-business model. This research approach, therefore, uses an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) integrated Quality Function Deployment (QFD) approach to show how blended value requirements can be identified and efficiently fulfilled to achieve sustainability of e-business with a comprehensive case study. This approach is unique in the sense that in developing the model blended value requirements are considered from three dimensions and blended value concept is integrated with customer's value requirements, business's value requirements, and process's value requirements

Qfd based modelling for E-business: A sustainable approach using blended value dimensions

Business modelling is not new and has had substantial impacts on the way businesses are planned and operated these days. Although 'e-business' and 'sustainability' are the two current major global trends but surprisingly none of the e-business modelling ideas covers the sustainability aspects of the business. Researchers are introducing 'green IT/ICT' concept lately but none of them clearly explains how those concepts will be used by the e-business modelling ideas. Recently, companies are successfully using QFD as a powerful tool in various fields that addresses strategic and operational decisions in businesses. This research approach, therefore, develops a QFD based e-business model in conjunction with blended value and sustainability aspects. The model explores and determines the optimal design requirements in developing the model. This approach also demonstrates how the sustainability dimensions can be integrated with the value dimensions in developing an e-business model. This approach is unique in the sense that in developing the model sustainability concept is integrated with customer's value requirements, business's value requirements, and process's value requirements instead of only customer's requirements. QFD, AHP, and Delphi method are used for the analysis of the data. An illustration is provided for the enhanced understanding of the proposed approach

The elements for sustainable E-business modelling: A 3D approach

The sustainability of the business is a global contemporary issue. E-business modelling is another already established term as it converts technology into economic value. Although e-business modelling and sustainability of the business are the two significant global trends now but still there is no common perception about the elements that are essential for a sustainable e-business model. Surprisingly, none of the approaches even consider sustainability as a major element while modelling e-business. Therefore, after completing extensive literature review on e-business modelling and sustainability of the business we carefully identify and determine the required elements for a sustainable e-business model in this paper. We also clarify the significance for selecting these elements. The elements are three dimensional (3D) and selected from customer value area, business value area, and process value area so that the modelling elements preserve the interests of all stakeholders while upholding the sustainability

Sustainable supply chain management through compliance of stakeholders' requirements: A study on ready-made garment (RMG) industry of Bangladesh

Sustainability in supply chain is now an issue of concurrent focus, as stakeholders are demanding sustainability from the point of production to the point of consumption. Research on sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) is not substantial in number. Most of the studies concentrate on social, environmental, and economic aspects of supply chain in a standalone fashion. Further, previous studies are dominantly conceptual in nature. Comprehensive empirical research on sustainable supply chain management incorporating social, environmental and economic aspects is very rare. Upon existence of such void in the literature this study aims at developing a comprehensive SSCM framework in the context of RMG supply chain of Bangladesh. An exploratory field study utilizing an inductive methodology involving a multiple-case study approach has been undertaken. Data have been collected by conducting face to face interviews with 15 decision makers of RMG manufacturing companies and their suppliers. We utilize content analysis techniques with a view to identify the factors with their associated. It is novel in the research findings that, apart from compliance of the triple bottom line components, compliance of buyers' operational requirements and sustainability governance are also important components of RMG supply chain sustainability. Further, some important interrelationships among sustainability factors have been explored. Finally, based on the extracted sustainability components and their interrelationships an integrated SSCM model has been developed

Supply chain resilience to mitigate disruptions: A QFD approach

With the increase in disruptions and vulnerabilities, demand for more resilient supply chain is echoed vibrantly in business world. It is important to develop resilient capability in right time because supply chain disruptions may be the cause of serious financial loss to the organizations as well as their supply chains. Supply chain managers need to identify supply chain disruptions and vulnerabilities so that they can develop resilience capability corresponding to those disruptions. In this paper, an Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) integrated Quality Function Deployment (QFD) technique has been used to identify prioritized vulnerabilities and corresponding resilience capability requirements. Such approach is still absent in the supply chain literature. An illustrative example has also been introduced to get a clear picture of the research process and future research plan

Dynamic sustainability requirements of stakeholders and the supply portfolio

© 2020 Elsevier Ltd Extant literature on sustainability in procurement and supplier selection suffers from a number of deficiencies. First, studies pertaining to the dynamic nature of stakeholders’ expectations of sustainability and its impact on determining a supply portfolio have not been studied before. Second, there is a genuine lack of study linking the stakeholders’ sustainability requirements, firm procurement strategies, and eventual supplier selection. Third, most of the existing studies address sustainability issues in procurement and supplier selection but fall short of determining an optimal portfolio of suppliers and corresponding optimal order quantities. This study addresses the above research gaps by developing a sustainability-focused multi-criteria decision model for supplier evaluation and determining optimal order allocation among the suppliers linking the stakeholders’ sustainability requirements and firm procurement strategies. Based on dynamic capability theory, we develop a decision support framework integrating multi-phased quality function deployment and dynamic optimization. We apply the decision support framework to a European apparel company which sources apparel from Bangladesh: a country that is a low cost sourcing destination. First, this study identifies the stakeholders’ sustainability requirements. It then explicates the company's procurement strategies in terms of stakeholders’ requirements followed by translating the procurement strategies to relevant supplier assessment criteria. Finally, a linear optimization model is developed to maximize the suppliers’ sustainability performance in order to determine the optimal supply portfolio. The results identify two distinct groups of suppliers satisfying the overall sustainability performance. However the optimal order quantities among the suppliers vary randomly depending on the variations in demand and priority weights of the suppliers. The paper concludes with a detailed discussion of the results and implications

Developing and validating a hierarchical model of external responsiveness: A study on RFID technology

Information Systems researchers demonstrate that organizations are very often influenced by external environment; success of an organization and its associated industry is largely dependent on how they respond to the external factors. Although a number of external factors have been explored in literature, still little is known on their degree of impact and hence their relative importance. Therefore, advancing research on organizational external (environmental) responsiveness requires clarifying the theoretical conceptualizations and validating the associated dimensions. After conducting an extensive literature search followed by a qualitative and quantitative study, the current study develops and validates a multi-dimensional hierarchical model of external responsiveness and investigates its effect on adoption intention.The findings of the study show that; in the context of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, external responsiveness is a third-order, reflective construct which is reflected by external pressure (further is reflected by government pressure, market pressure, mimetic pressure, and normative pressure), external support (reflected by government support, vendor support, and associative support), and external uncertainty (reflected by market and technology uncertainty). Moreover, the impact of the third-order and second-order constructs on the endogenous variable (i.e. intention to adopt RFID) is examined and found to have positive influences. This study is the first reported attempt that categorizes the dimensions of external responsiveness and validates with empirical data. This study concludes with implications and future research directions