Conceptual Architecture for Agent-Based Modelling of Supplier Selection Conducted by a Supply Chain Dyad

Within the fourth stage of industrialization, artificial intelligence and in particular the multi-agent systems paradigm is highly adopted. Within the agent approach, the industrial resources are defined as intelligent agents that negotiate with each other to implement dynamic reconfiguration and reach agility and higher customer satisfaction. In this paper a smart configuration of the agent-based system for multi-product dyadic supplier selection is proposed. The objective is to select suppliers for multiple products simultaneously in a vertical collaboration context while involving the customer of the purchasing company and considering its preferences. Negotiation experiments are conducted for initial validation of the proposed conceptual architecture

Proposal Decision Support Process for Urban Goods Delivery

This paper proposes a collaborative process to handle demands received by a carrier for urban goods delivery.The purpose of this article is to provide support for carriers analyzing the demands,physical resources,human resources,risks and profitability,in order to decide processing internally or externally a goods delivery demand or rejecting it.Such a process,called CUFP(Collaborative Urban Freight Process),is based on an analysis of urban movements of goods,divided into four stages:Check out of extreme conditions,feasibility study,exploitation study and execution

Advanced optimization model of resource allocation in B2C supply chain

Resource allocation plays a critical role in the strategic, tactical, and operational planning of the supply chain. The study focuses on aspects of resource allocation in the case of pure players, manufacturers, and Clicks & Mortars that have launched online sales. These e-retailers offer a wide selection of customized services and so need an efficient management on every level and process. The goal of the research was to explore a concrete approach to improve customer satisfaction, reduce costs and risks and to maintain the benefits of e-retailers and of its collaborators. Our contribution is a decision support system and a tool to improve operational resources allocation in B2C supply chains. Hence, we started by modeling operations and the different scenarios. Then we introduced an optimization model founded on the analysis of resource allocation in B2C supply chains and applicable on any B2C e-retailer. It helps in choosing the most optimal resources for each order. The model is based on a multi-objective optimization approach that takes into consideration the collaboration of resources throughout the supply chain operations process including dynamic costs and collaborator capabilities as well as associated risks and the quality of delivered services

Advanced supplier selection: A hybrid multi-agent negotiation protocol supporting supply chain dyadic collaboration

This paper proposes a novel form of supplier selection involving the supply chain dyad as the buyer and the suppliers as sellers. The main proposed contribution is a multi-attribute decision hybrid protocol for supplier selection based on collaboration and negotiation, adapted to dyadic collaboration in a supply chain context. Suppliers and the purchasing dyad can reach an agreement on the details of the products simultaneously and exploit the preferences of the customer dyadic partner to enlarge the criteria choices of the products. For this, the proposed protocol combines a one-to-one bilateral dyadic collaboration protocol inside the purchasing dyad along with a one-to-many multi-bilateral bargaining protocol between the purchasing dyad and suppliers. Illustrative multi-agent simulation experiments were carried out to prove the effectiveness of the proposed protocol. The protocol implementation shows better negotiation results than the classic supplier selection process, along with expected higher customer partner satisfaction and a more embedded dyadic relationship

Performance in Virtual Teams: Towards an Integrative Model

Virtual teams (VTs) are groups of people who work interdependently with shared purpose across space, time, and organization boundaries, using technology to communicate and collaborate. This literature review examined the status of the published research on VTs functioning to identify the main factors impacting their performance. Our main findings are the conceptualization of a multi-level model integrating factors classified into six categories: (1) individual factors; (2) group dynamics or team members’ interactions; (3) context factors; (4) technology-mediated communication (TMC); (5) trust; and (6) leadership. The framework elaborated from this literature review needs to be tested in different environments

Performance in Virtual Teams: Towards an Integrative Model

Virtual teams (VTs) are groups of people who work interdependently with shared purpose across space, time, and organization boundaries, using technology to communicate and collaborate. This literature review examined the status of the published research on VTs functioning to identify the main factors impacting their performance. Our main findings are the conceptualization of a multi-level model integrating factors classified into six categories: (1) individual factors; (2) group dynamics or team members’ interactions; (3) context factors; (4) technology-mediated communication (TMC); (5) trust; and (6) leadership. The framework elaborated from this literature review needs to be tested in different environments