Proposed Coordination Mechanism Research Articles

Shipment lead time hedging and coordination in prefabricated construction supply chain

This paper aims to coordinate a shipment lead time hedging (SLTH) problem between a building contractor and a logistics provider in the prefabricated construction supply chain (PCSC). In the PCSC, untimely (early or late) delivery of prefabs can lead to project time and cost overruns. To mitigate this challenge, the building contractor requires the logistics provider to reduce the shipping time variability, which is termed the SLTH strategy. While this benefits the building contractor, it also puts more investment and operational pressures on the logistics provider. To solve this conflict, we introduce a coordination mechanism which involves two terms: an SLTH level related cost term is charged by the logistics provider to the building contractor, and a constant transfer term is adopted to fairly allocate the system surplus. Three decentralized models are investigated: i.e., two Stackelberg game models with alternative decision-making sequences and an equal power model. Further comparative analysis and numerical studies reveal that our proposed coordination mechanism increases the SLTH level and ensures a win–win situation. Moreover, some interesting managerial implications are derived.

Leveraging the Social Fabric to Improve Rural E-Commerce Access

Motivated by recent developments aimed to address last-mile delivery challenges in rural areas of Indonesia and China, we develop a theoretical model to study how to lower participation barriers to the e-commerce market. We analyze how stage stations lower the cost of last-mile delivery by leveraging the preexisting social fabric in rural communities, including local stores, as well as social technologies such as chat services and virtual groups. Specifically, we examine two models, a decentralized model with stage stations run by independent agents, and a centralized model, similar to the one pioneered by Alibaba Taobao. We find that when the delivery cost in rural areas is high, the decentralized model can lower the participation cost and increase both platform profit and social welfare. In general, the centralized model outperforms the decentralized one. One reason is that the decentralized model suffers from a double marginalization problem. The centralized model has more flexibility, for example, in determining the pricing policies for both sellers and buyers. It could offer free service to rural customers if the participation of fresh rural customers can attract many additional sellers. However, a centralized model may not be feasible in many countries. Therefore, we explore whether the platform can implement a coordination mechanism for decentralized stage stations. We find that our proposed coordination mechanism can improve the performance of the decentralized model. Our results have important implications for how e-commerce platforms can leverage stage stations and social technologies to lower participation barriers for rural customers, thereby creating a more inclusive development model.

Oligomeric Heterogeneous Double Metal Cyanide Catalyst for One‐pot Ring‐Opening Polymerization

AbstractA series of efficient oligomeric zinc and cobalt‐based double metal cyanide (DMC) catalysts was prepared using Ethylenediaminetetracetic acid (EDTA) as an organic complexing agent (CA) and tested for ring‐opening polymerization (ROP) of propylene oxide (PO) to synthesize polyether polyols (PPG). The complex formation of EDTA with Zn and cyanide (CN−) with Zn surface and morphology of the DMC catalyst were confirmed by PXRD, FTIR, SEM, and UV‐Vis. Furthermore, the13C‐CP MAS spectroscopy showed an integral ratio of 3.2 : 1 for the bound and free carboxyl group of EDTA in the catalyst, respectively. The maximum yield (>98 %) of PPG with turnover frequency (TOF) of 9625 h−1was obtained with controlled PDI (1.1) in only 1 h with 1330 g mol−1Mw, 0.009 meq g−1unsaturation number, and 8.1 mg‐KOH g−1OH value at optimized reaction condition (Catalyst amount=0.015 g, Time=1 h, Temperature=105 °C, Pressure=5 bar, PO : PEG‐600=40 : 1). The ROP showed first‐order kinetics behavior by1H NMR spectroscopy with proposed coordination mechanism.

Coordinating corporate social responsibility in a two-level supply chain under bilateral information asymmetry

In this research, we study the problem of coordinating corporate social responsibility (CSR), an extremely important issue of supply chains in practice and academia, in a dyadic supply chain when a supplier and a manufacturer, two independent entities, commit CSR activities while both possess private CSR cost information i.e., bilateral information asymmetry. Decision structures and profits under information symmetry, information asymmetry-misreporting and asymmetry-estimation are modelled and investigated for each actor and the supply chain. The results show that in both information asymmetry scenarios, the supply chain profit decreases with respect to information symmetry, except for the exact estimate of the unknown cost. Hence, to deal with this inefficiency, we propose a coordination mechanism based on leader-leader Stackelberg models, rooted in the economic game. Finally, the numerical examples conducted in this paper seek to compare the results between the different decision models considered. The proposed coordination mechanism shows an improvement in global supply chain profit. Therefore, the main contribution of this study is to analyze the decisions under bilateral information asymmetry, rather than complete information or unilateral information asymmetry, where both actors are involved in CSR, rather than one or none and proposing appropriate coordinating mechanism. The proposed approach can be used by independent companies to coordinate their CSR efforts.

Comprehensive evaluation and sustainable development of water–energy–food–ecology systems in Central Asia

Water, energy, food, and ecology play significant roles in poverty reduction, human well-being, and regional sustainable development. With the increasing demand for energy and food, environmental degradation, and increasing pressure on regional finite water resources, water-energy-food-ecology (WEFE) systems have been facing serious challenges in Central Asia. To address these challenges, it is necessary to understand and manage the WEFE nexus; thus, we explore the relationship between cross-sectoral pressures in this study. Based on the projection pursuit model and the virtual water trade concept, we comprehensively assess the WEFE system pressure and reveal the transmission of pressure. Finally, we develop a coordination mechanism to achieve the sustainable development of WEFE systems. The main results are as follows: (1) During 1992–2014, the comprehensive pressure level of the WEFE system showed a slightly upward trend, but there were significant differences between countries; (2) the pressures of cross-sectors are not only closely related but also transmittable. Unreasonable sectoral structure (crop planting, power generation and food import and export), spatial mismatch of resources and virtual water trade (especially for food trade) are important reasons for the pressure transfer within and across countries. And, (3) the proposed coordination mechanism optimizes the system structure, makes trade-offs and synergies for the interests of the sectors, and is more targeted. The integration of policies and regions is key to ensuring the smooth operation of the mechanism. This research can serve as a reference to achieve the coordinated development of WEFE systems in Central Asia.

Optimal strategies of green product supply chains based on behaviour-based pricing

Behaviour-based pricing (BBP) fully considers the willingness to pay, behavioural characteristics and rational expectations of new and old customers and can dynamically adjust pricing strategies based on purchase histories. Therefore, compared with uniform pricing, BBP can promote the development of green products in the market. Additionally, BBP gradually influences the pricing decisions of the supply chain. Therefore, this paper explores for the first time the pricing decisions and coordination mechanisms of the green product supply chain (GPSC) under a behavioural pricing model. BBP is implemented under two scenarios, centralisation and decentralisation, and the optimal pricing and supply chain decision-making are compared. Under the centralised scenario, the profit, greenness, market share and environmental friendliness are all higher than those under the decentralised scenario, and in most cases, consumers can better afford green products. Therefore, a revenue-sharing model is designed to realise GPSC coordination under BBP. The numerical experiments show that the proportion of revenue shared by green product retailers is positively correlated with the initial market share of green products; the proposed coordination mechanism can improve the greenness and profits of enterprises in a GPSC, the consumer surplus of green products and the overall environment performance.

Coordination of law enforcement agencies’ activites in the sphere of drug criminality counteraction

The article deals with the concepts and forms of coordination of the activities of law enforcement agencies in the field of combating drug crime. It is determined that coordination is important because this activity is done through the concerted efforts of different actors. These include public authorities at various levels, non-state actors repre-senting the interests of civil society, as well as individual citizens through various forms of self-organization of the population that can effectively counteract the illicit trafficking of drugs, provided that their activities are optimally coordinated. However, under domestic conditions, for a long time, it is not possible to make an effective choice of coordinator as a subject, which fully coordinates the sectoral activity of all involved in the process of combating drug abuse of institutions and organizations. Summarizing the material available on this issue, the authors identified certain trends in solving this issue. According to the results of the analysis, an organizational model was proposed, where the role of the coordinator of anti-narcotic activities was assigned to the Interagency Interaction Center in the sphere of combating criminal drug trafficking, which would operate under the Department of Combating Nar-cotics of the National Police of Ukraine. Assessing the role of the prosecutor’s office as an organizer of the fight against crime in general, including criminal drug trafficking, it is stated that this agency is intended to coordinate the activities of all law enforcement agencies in the implementation of their various functions of criminal justice, that is, on a wide range of tasks. The authors emphasize that there is also a need to coordinate search operations as the most effective law enforcement function in the field of combating criminal drug trafficking. The authors consider the National Police of Ukraine Department of Drug Crime to be the optimal working body to ensure coordination of actions of all these operational units of law enforcement agencies, as having in its arsenal strategic and tactical approaches of joint operational work in the sphere of criminal drug trafficking. At the same time, these units will not lose their position as a subject of ARD in the anti-narcotic sphere. It is emphasized that the implementation of the proposed coordination mechanism in the practice of law enforcement agencies in a qualified and professional approach to its application will serve to increase the efficiency of coordination activities, requiring law enforcement agencies to apply modern methods of coordination, correct definition of strategy and tactics of interaction on coun-teraction, counteraction cases of substitution and duplication.

Pricing and coordination of competitive recycling and remanufacturing supply chain considering the quality of recycled products

<p style='text-indent:20px;'>Considering the quality of recycled products, we develop a game model of a multi-level competitive recycling and remanufacturing supply chain with two manufacturers and multiple recyclers. Being focus on two mainstream game models, namely the manufacturer-recycler cooperation game model and the manufacturer-led Stackelberg game model, we explore the connection between optimal pricing decisions and performance levels of the supply chain members. Although researches indicate that the quality of recycled products will not affect the pricing decisions in the forward supply chain, it is positively related to the recycling price, the repurchase price, and the overall profit in the reverse supply chain, and the intensity of competition among manufacturers or recycled products will affect the pricing decisions and the performance levels of the two models. In the manufacturer-led Stackelberg game model, the supply chain does not reach the Pareto optimum, which uses the recycling cost sharing contract to achieve the coordination. Afterwards, the profits of the two manufacturers and multiple recyclers in the supply chain are increased, and the overall profit of the supply chain system is higher than that of the manufacturer-led Stackelberg game model. Finally, numerical analysis is conducted to verify the proposed coordination mechanism and its effectiveness.</p>

Optimization of Relay Power and Load Control Period Based on Cost-Sharing Contract in Smart Grid Communications

This article considers both the influence of relay power and load control period on the load tracking performance in smart grid communication. First, based on regulation errors caused by load control with imperfect channel state information (CSI), the load tracking cost model integrated of load control period and relay power is established in smart grid communication. Then, a coordination mechanism of cost-sharing contract (CSC) is presented. In the CSC, the utility companies select the preferred contractual terms offered by the telecom operator (TO) to reduce their costs and coordinate the whole network system simultaneously. Finally, the theoretical analysis and simulation demonstrate that the simultaneous consideration of the relay power and load control period can reduce the costs of the utility companies, increase the profit of the TO, and improve the social welfare. Besides, the proposed coordination mechanism of CSC can coordinate the whole network system.

Validating a Termite-Inspired Construction Coordination Mechanism Using an Autonomous Robot.

Many species of termites build large, structurally complex mounds, and the mechanisms behind this coordinated construction have been a longstanding topic of investigation. Recent work has suggested that humidity may play a key role in the mound expansion of savannah-dwelling Macrotermes species: termites preferentially deposit soil on the mound surface at the boundary of the high-humidity region characteristic of the mound interior, implying a coordination mechanism through environmental feedback where addition of wet soil influences the humidity profile and vice versa. Here we test this potential mechanism physically using a robotic system. Local humidity measurements provide a cue for material deposition. As the analogue of the termite's deposition of wet soil and corresponding local increase in humidity, the robot drips water onto an absorbent substrate as it moves. Results show that the robot extends a semi-enclosed area outward when air is undisturbed, but closes it off when air is disturbed by an external fan, consistent with termite building activity in still vs. windy conditions. This result demonstrates an example of adaptive construction patterns arising from the proposed coordination mechanism, and supports the hypothesis that such a mechanism operates in termites.

A coordination mechanism through cost sharing of corporate social responsibility and government subsidy in a two-echelon supply chain

PurposeThis paper aims to deal with the coordination problem of the supply chain through cost sharing of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and government subsidy.Design/methodology/approachWith respect to the coordination problem of the supply chain with CSR, this paper constructs a three-stage game model consisting of a dominant retailer, n suppliers and government. From the perspective of cost sharing and government subsidies, this paper discussed the decentralized and centralized decision-making, respectively. On this basis, this paper designed a coordination mechanism considering both cost sharing and government subsidies and explore the impact of cost sharing rate and government subsidy rate on CSR efforts, members’ profits and social welfare.FindingsCSR can improve the profits of supply chain members and the overall performance of the supply chain. Then the profits of supply chain nodal enterprises will be affected by the fulfillment level of CSR of their partners. Furthermore, excessive CSR will erode the supply chain profits and cause resource waste. High CSR costs often make retailers low CSR effort level, while a high CSR cost sharing rate can reduce the profits of suppliers and the supply chain. In addition, excessive government subsidies will lead to the decline of social welfare. Excessive government subsidies will cause the dependence of enterprises and affect their operating efficiency.Practical implicationsThe proposed coordination mechanism can effectively do with the coordination problem of the supply chain.Originality/valueThe proposed coordination mechanism considering cost sharing and government subsidies simultaneously can effectively deal with conflict problems and guarantee the supply chain members and the supply chain to maximize their profits and social welfare.

Corporate social responsibility in the pharmaceutical supply chain: An optimized medicine donation scheme

This paper investigates the coordination of a two-level pharmaceutical supply chain (PSC) consisting of a pharmacy and a pharma-supplier under corporate social responsibility (CSR) and uncertain demand. In this regard, the medicine donation scheme to the deprived areas and the take-back plan for collecting surplus medicine in the pharmacy site have been introduced to enhance public health and CSR performance in the proposed PSC. The pharma-supplier determines the donation amount at the start of the sale period. Subsequently, the pharmacy decides on the amount of medications order; afterward, the pharm-supplier makes a decision about take-back quantity at the specified time within the cycle. A customized revenue- and cost-sharing (CRCS) contract is also developed to coordinate the channel. Although deciding as a centralized entity optimizes the total profitability of the PSC, our findings reveal that it cannot guarantee the profitability of both channel members. Numerical investigations indicate that using the presented coordination scheme not only motivates the channel members to participate in the social/philanthropic activity but also mitigates pharmaceutical wastages and its potential losses. This finding means the proposed coordination mechanism can adjust the contract parameters in such a way that members have enough motivation to participate in channel optimal decision-making, and also ensure the profitability of both PSC members.

Coordinating of multi-echelon supply chains through the generalized (R, S) policy

Numerous studies have confirmed the negative impact of the lack of coordination on supply chain performance. In particular, the lack of coordination leads to the bullwhip effect, which has severe impacts on supply chain stability. This paper evaluates a proposed coordination mechanism that allows a decentralized information sharing in multi-echelon supply chains. The proposed mechanism “Info-Smooth” utilizes the ordering rule of the generalized (R, S) policy in which a replenishment order can be transferred to upstream echelons including two pieces of information (demand forecast and inventory balance). As the generalized (R, S) can allow order smoothing, Info-Smooth combines the power of both information sharing and order smoothing. A simulation modeling methodology is employed to investigate the effectiveness of Info-Smooth in a multi-echelon supply chain. The factorial design results have shown that Info-Smooth is successful in mitigating the bullwhip effect whilst keeping acceptable inventory stability, compared to the traditional supply chain model.

Transactive energy coordination mechanism for community microgrids supplying multi‐dwelling residential apartments

A transactive energy coordination mechanism is proposed in this study where community microgrids are supplying power to multi-dwelling residential apartments. The proposed transactive energy coordination mechanism coordinates the energy sharing among apartments based on the energy profile of the community microgrid where the excess energy is traded with non-contributing apartments. The proposed coordination mechanism is embedded within an energy management controller which uses the energy profile and determines the valuation of energy. A choice factor along with the bound on electricity prices is also incorporated to calculate the bidding price and a double-sided auction mechanism is considered for the bidding purpose. The utility maximisation approach is used to clear the market. Different scenarios based on the flexibility in the pricing strategy are considered to evaluate the performance of the proposed transactive energy coordination mechanism. The potential economic benefits of the proposed scheme are also analysed which clearly demonstrate that it is beneficial for all participants.

Coordination mechanism of dual-channel closed-loop supply chains considering product quality and return

The deficiency of green products from a quality perspective has attracted significant attention from consumers. The recurring explosions of smart cell phone batteries in recent years is why green products are deemed quality-deficient. However, few researchers has paid attention to this issue, and there is no consensus in the previous literature regarding the impact of returning defective products on vertical dual-channel management in closed-loop supply chains. According to past studies, there are two types of product returns: 1) defective item return and 2) waste product return. The model in our study is based on these two types. However, available studies are not based on this model. Second, we examine how closed-loop supply chain members determine the product quality and price in the presence of return on defective items. Based on our results, we design a revenue-sharing contract to motivate retailer's efforts in recycling waste products. Our paper demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed coordination mechanism in mitigating retail price competitions and enhancing the total profit of dual-channel closed-loop supply chains, compared to non-coordination models. In addition, we also provide a practical managerial insight indicating that it may not be wise to pursue a low return rate for faulty products by making expensive quality improvements, and the increased quality may even worsen the entire supply chain in some scenarios.

Collaboration as a service (CaaS) to fully integrate public transportation – Lessons from long distance travel to reimagine mobility as a service

Integrated mobility aims to improve multimodal integration to make public transport an attractive alternative to private transport. This paper critically reviews extant literature and current public transport governance frameworks of transport operators across a macro and micro spectrum. Our aim is to extend the concept of Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS), a proposed coordination mechanism for public transport that is yet to prove its commercial viability and general acceptance. Drawing from avaition experiences, we propose that smart ticketing systems, providing Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) can be extended with governance and operational processes that enhance their ability to facilitate Collaboration-as-a-Service (CaaS) to offer a reimagined MaaS2.0 = CaaS + SaaS. Rather than using the traditional MaaS broker, CaaS incorporates operators more fully and utilises their commercial self-interest to deliver commercially viable and attractive integrated public transport solutions to consumers. This would also facilitate more collaboration of private sector operators into public transport across short and long distance with potentially new opportunities for taxi/rideshare/bikeshare operators and cross geographical transport providers (i.e. transnational multimodal operating companies) to integrate.

Workload-driven coordination between virtual machine allocation and task scheduling

The current task scheduling is separated from the virtual machine (VM) allocation, which, to some extent, wastes resources or degrades application performance. The scheduling algorithm influences the demand of VMs in terms of service-level agreement, while the number of VMs determines the performance of task scheduling. Workload plays an indispensable role in both dynamic VM allocation and task scheduling. To address this problem, we coordinate task scheduling and VM allocation based on workload characteristics. Workload is empirically time-varying and stochastic. We demonstrate that the acquired workload data set has Markov property which can be modeled as a Markov chain. Then, three workload characteristic operators are extracted: persistence, recurrence and entropy, which quantify the relative stability, burstiness, and unpredictability of the workload, respectively. Experiments indicate that the persistence and recurrence of workloads has a direct bearing on the average response time and resource utilization of the system. A nonlinear model between the load characteristic operators and the number of VMs is established. In order to test the performance of the collaborative framework, we design a scheduling algorithm based on genetic algorithm (GA), which takes the estimated number of VMs as input and the task completion time as the optimization target. Simulation experiments have been performed on the CloudSim platform, testifying that the estimated average absolute VMs error is only 2.6%. The GA-based task scheduling algorithm could improve resource utilization and reduce task completion time compared with the first come first serve and greedy algorithm. The proposed coordination mechanism in this paper has proved able to find the optimal match and reduce the resource cost by utilizing the interaction between VM allocation and task scheduling.

A two-phase coordinated logistics planning approach to platelets provision in humanitarian relief operations

For provision of platelets in humanitarian relief operations, due to the excessive number of non-coordinated organizations, relief response times and corresponding costs of platelets sharply increase. This article proposes a two-phase mechanism to coordinate two heterogeneous relief organizations (i.e., relief and rescue organization of the Red Crescent Society and a blood transfusion organization) in a decentralized network in such a way that its own interests and objectives are also satisfied. The blood transfusion organization tries to minimize the wastage level of platelets considering related total costs. At the same time, the relief and rescue organization decides on the selection of shelters where the platelets can be administered to injured people, while minimizing total relief time. Thus, first a bi-level mixed integer linear model under the demand and supply uncertainties is developed (phase 1), and then a capacity-sharing coordination mechanism based on the collaborative control theory is proposed (phase 2). To solve large-scale instances, a fuzzy Kth-Best algorithm is developed to solve the first phase and then phase 2 is solved by the proposed coordination mechanism. We compare our model to centralized relief logistics model using a data set for a possible earthquake in Tehran, Iran. Results show that our model reduces shortage and wastage compared with the centralized model

Buffer space hedging and coordination in prefabricated construction supply chain management

This paper studies a coordination scheme to solve a buffer space hedging (BSH) issue in the prefabricated construction supply chain management (PCSCM). To hedge against unfavorable impacts caused by improper delivery of prefab, the project contractor requires the transportation company to reserve some buffer space in its intermediate warehouse for contingent use (holding safety stock and/or keeping idle). This is termed as BSH strategy. However, this strategy may impact the operation efficiency and potential profit loss for the transportation company. A balance must be kept through a BSH coordination mechanism. Two terms are involved in this mechanism: a BSH amount related cost term is charged by the transportation company to the project contractor and a constant transfer term is used to fairly allocate the system surplus. Three models with different power structures are used to examine the balance. For uneven power settings, two Stackelberg games with alternative decision making sequences are studied. For the equal power setting, a Nash game is presented. It is observed that the proposed coordination mechanism is able to reduce the required BSH amount with win-win coordination. Some interesting managerial implications are also obtained from comparison analysis and numerical studies.

How to Ensure Reliable Connectivity for Aerial Vehicles Over Cellular Networks

Widely deployed cellular networks are an attractive solution to provide large scale radio connectivity to unmanned aerial vehicles. One main prerequisite is that co-existence and optimal performance for both aerial and terrestrial users can be provided. Today's cellular networks are, however, not designed for aerial coverage, and deployments are primarily optimized to provide good service for terrestrial users. These considerations, in combination with the strict regulatory requirements, lead to extensive research and standardization efforts to ensure that the current cellular networks can enable reliable operation of aerial vehicles in various deployment scenarios. In this paper, we investigate the performance of aerial radio connectivity in a typical rural area network deployment using extensive channel measurements and system simulations. First, we highlight that downlink and uplink radio interference play a key role, and yield relatively poor performance for the aerial traffic, when load is high in the network. Second, we analyze two potential terminal side interference mitigation solutions: interference cancellation and antenna beam selection. We show that each of these can improve the overall, aerial and terrestrial, system performance to a certain degree, with up to 30% throughput gain, and an increase in the reliability of the aerial radio connectivity to over 99%. Further, we introduce and evaluate a novel downlink inter-cell interference coordination mechanism applied to the aerial command and control traffic. Our proposed coordination mechanism is shown to provide the required aerial downlink performance at the cost of 10% capacity degradation in the serving and interfering cells.