Development Of Operational Strategies Research Articles

Alternative forms of operations strategy development: how significant are they?

With the increasing significance of business model innovation and network-based collaborations, and due to the ongoing difficulties encountered in executing formally developed strategies, there is ...

Optimum Utilization of Edge Pairs

Summary Nearly all of Husky's SAGD projects in the Lloydminster, Saskatchewan area are in reservoirs with bottomwater. While operating several projects in this region, Husky observed that in some reservoir settings, the outer SAGD pair had significantly decreased performance compared to inner SAGD pairs. When the outer pair was shut in to improve overall pilot performance, the performance of the now exposed adjacent pair rapidly decreased. It was hypothesized that operating the edge pairs protected inner pairs from the detrimental effects of bottomwater. Numerical simulation runs have confirmed this behaviour. The conclusions reached are that in many bottomwater settings, poorer-performing edge SAGD pairs protect and preserve the performance of inner SAGD pairs; and this should be taken into consideration during facilities' design, development of operational strategy, and production forecasting.

Decreasing Financial Negative Influence in the Supply Chain Management through Integrated Comparison the ANP and GRA-ANP Models

In the modern economic era of lower profits, financial negative influence has been in the supply chain management for quite some time however, only a few assessable measurements of financial negative influence are considered. The integrated methodology of the Analytical Network Process (ANP) and the Grey Relation Analysis (GRA) is selected to evaluate key financial assessment criteria through brainstorming, focus group, the Delphi method and nominal group technique to improve the selection of suppliers in supply chain management (SCM). The specific feature of the ANP and GRA- ANP models are both to establish pairwise compared matrix and furthermore, to calculate the priority vector weights (eigenvector) of each assessable characteristic, criteria and attribute. Additionally, in the content, the analytical hierarchical relations are definitely expressed in four levels including between each characteristic of supply chain, criterion and attribute. Moreover, based on the empirical analysis, the enterprises are able to choose the best potential suppliers through this research in order to minimize financial negative influence from a financial perspective through the comparison between the ANP and GRA-ANP approaches. Finally, some suggestions for managers and researchers are inductively formed to further the best development of operation strategy of supply chain management in order to diminish financial negative influence.

Customer Engagement: A Framework for Assessing Customer-Brand Relationships: The Case of the Restaurant Industry

Customer-brand relationships do not just exist, they develop over time and through multiple service experiences, yet the literature typically discusses customer-brand relationships as being a largely static phenomenon. Very limited attention has been given over to the service evaluation processes of customers who are new to a service brand, as compared to customers who are experienced with the service brand. Research additionally continues to rely on the historically dominant customer satisfaction paradigm as the most effective method with which to evaluate service experiences at the expense of other relational mediators such as involvement, calculative commitment, affective commitment, and trust. This limits the extent to which a more complete and dynamic understanding of the nature of customer-brand relationships and the processes by which engagement with the brand and ultimately loyalty to the brand may be fostered for customers in different consumption stages. A phenomenological investigation into the process of customer engagement, as revealed through customers' restaurant dining experiences, is presented to examine these issues. The data for this study was provided by five focus groups and nine in-depth interviews. The results of the study indicate that the role of relational mediators differs across new and repeat purchase segments of customers. These findings have important implications for the management of customer-brand relationships amongst different customer segments and for the development of operational strategies to improve service provision within the restaurant industry.

Development of operational strategies to remove carbon dioxide in photobioreactors

The objective of this work was to evaluate different operational strategies for photobioreactors to remove carbon dioxide using the cyanobacteria, Aphanothece microscopica Nägeli. Two types of reactor configuration, bubble column and airlift were evaluated under three different operational conditions to treat air containing 15% carbon dioxide: simple operation, air recirculation and two sequential reactors. The results obtained showed that the reactor configuration and the operational mode were both determinant criteria for the performance of photobioreactors in the biological conversion of carbon dioxide. Operations with air recirculation showed possibilities for use in small-scale operations, but two-stage sequential photobioreactors (elimination capacity and removal efficiency of 12,217 g carbon/m 3 reactor day and 52.5%, respectively) were shown to be the operational mode with greatest potential for application on an industrial scale by the increased removal efficiency.

Development of Operation Strategy to improve Efficiency for Twin Automated Transfer Crane in an Automated Container Terminal

In order to become a mega hub port, major ports all over the world are making every effort to enhance their productivity through efficiency of internal operation. Accordingly, in order to enhance the competitiveness of a container terminal, an automated container terminal is considered as the best alternative. An automated container terminal is using such automated handling equipment as AGV(Automated Guided Vehicles) and ATC(Automated Transfer Crane). The efficient equipment operation plays a critical role in enhancing the productivity of an automated container terminal. In an automated container terminal, the most important equipments are AGV and ATC. Each block of containers with a vertical layout is generally operating two ATCs. The two ATCs can be crossed or not at each block. In the case of operating crossover ATC, it has an advantage of high flexibility that ATC work is possible at both TP(Transfer Point) of each block. But it has also a disadvantage that the yard has to be operated at a low storage level of containers in the terminal yard. Recently, for automated container terminals, which are being prepared for opening in Korea, they plan to use uncrossed twin ATC in order to make the storage level of their yards high at a low cost. Therefore, studies have to be made in order to increase the efficiency of twin ATC system based on the flexibility that the crossover ATC system has. This research aims to suggest an operation strategy to improve efficiency of twin ATC at each storage block in a yard.

Understanding Customer Choices in E-Financial Services

Given the rapid increase of web-based sales, e-services (both pure-online and hybrid clicks and mortar market plays) are faced with a difficult challenge: What value-added features should they offer to effectively gain market share and profits while realistically considering operational and financial constraints embedded in a perfect market paradigm? This article explores similarities and differences in customer values and switching inertia between different customer segments for e-financial services in the United States. Through a national online customer choice experiment with 2200 onlinecustomers, the authors found that customer values differ widely across segments and online features (such as availability of traditional data-quoting and buy/sell decision support services price, access to a brick-and-mortar retail outlet, and various formats of online accessibility). The results of this study have both managerial and research implications for design and operations strategy development for e-services in other industries as well.

Operations strategy: genealogy, classification and anatomy

This paper seeks to offer some unity in a new and evolving discipline. The aim is to provide clear and unambiguous foundations to aid development of operations strategy as a field of study. Using empirical evidence and theoretical reasoning, it seeks to clarify the nature of operations strategy: its lineage, composition and purpose. In so doing, it is able to asseverate that such strategies develop and evolve through both market and resource influences – they shape both the composition and architecture of such strategies. In so doing, it is possible to demonstrate that these strategies can be customised to the exigencies of the situation.

Contemporary issues in the care of sick children and their families.

This article considers the response of children's nurses to contemporary change in the management of sick children and their families throughout the last decade. In recognizing the rich and diverse history of children's nursing the impact of those factors which have led to the development of operational strategies to manage children's services will be considered. The quest, not always successful, to coordinate care as a seamless web of services to children and their families will be investigated, as will the role dimensions encompassed by specialist children's nurses and their interface with interprofessional colleagues. A range of nurse-led services in a variety of contemporary child health settings will be explored.

Operations strategy in an emerging economy: the case of the Ghanaian manufacturing industry

AbstractOperations strategy and its development have received a lot of attention in the operations management literature. However, as noted by Ward et al. (1995), an understanding of the factors that influence operations strategy development has not been widely studied. Further, how managers of firms in underdeveloped countries develop operations strategy has yet to receive any significant attention among researchers. This paper takes a look at the development of operations strategy in an underdeveloped economy, Ghana. Specifically, the paper examines the relationships between the business environment and the operations strategy choices made by firms in Ghana. The paper seeks to understand the influence that specific business environmental factors have on the operations strategy choices of low cost, quality, flexibility, and delivery dependability.A survey of manufacturing firms was carried out in 1998. The respondents (production managers in those firms) were asked to indicate the extent to which business costs, labor availability, competitive hostility, and environmental dynamism were of concern to them. They were also asked to indicate their extent of emphasis on the operations strategy choices of quality, cost, flexibility and delivery dependability. This paper presents the result of the analysis of the relationships between the environmental factors and the operations strategy choices. The data indicate that, among firms in Ghana, the two strongest factors that influence the degree of emphasis placed on operations strategy choices are perceived business costs and competitive hostility. Results are presented for both large and small firms, and for firms that are completely locally owned as well as for joint venture firms.

Comportamento do consumidor versus estratégias de operações: a ponte cliente-empresa

Análise das relações que existem entre o comportamento do consumidor e a elaboração de estratégias de operações de uma empresa.