Service Cost Efficiency Research Articles

Platform service decision and selling mode selection under different power structures

PurposeThis paper forms an e-commerce supply chain that include a manufacturer providing products and an online platform providing service. The reselling platform mode and the agent platform mode are considered through an exploration of the manufacturer Stackelberg (MS), vertical Nash (VN), platform Stackelberg (PS) power structures. The purpose of this paper is to explore the pricing and platform service decisions under different platform selling modes and channel power structures.Design/methodology/approachBased on the game theory models, this paper investigates the interaction between the manufacturer and the online platform under four different scenarios. The optimal solutions of four models are provided. Through comparison analyses, this paper evaluates the impacts of platform selling mode and channel power structure on the pricing and platform service decisions and the members’ profits.FindingsThe manufacturer prefers the MS power structure in any platform mode. The online platform prefers the PS (MS) power structure under a low (high) service cost efficiency in the reselling platform mode, while prefers the PS and VN power structures in the agent platform mode. Moreover, the manufacturer prefers the agent (reselling) platform mode under a low (high) service cost efficiency in any power structure. The online platform prefers the reselling platform mode in the MS and PS power structures, while prefers the reselling (agent) platform mode under a low (high) service cost efficiency in the VN power structures.Originality/valueThe analysis result provides important managerial implications that help the supply chain members develop a better understanding of the selection of the platform selling mode and the effect of the channel power structure in the presence of platform service.

DESIGN OF BUSINESS MODEL INNOVATION FOR POWER PLANT OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE SERVICES USING DESIGN THINKING METHOD


 
 
 Power generation business competition in Indonesia is increasingly competitive due to the growth of IPP’s with better levels of reliability and efficiency. IPP growth with the TOP scheme in PJBTL has the potential to burden PLN and the state's finances in the long term. In order to guarantee the sustainability of the company, this needs to be a concern of PLN and its subsidiary, PLN Nusantara Power (PLN NP). PLN NP is expected to be able to provide more competitive O&M service fees. This study aims to formulate cost efficiency O&M services based on factors that affect the cost of supplying electricity, to provide efficient and competitive O&M service costs. The research began with the in-depth interviews with experts and reports of electricity supply, O&M service business processes, list of power plant units which were analyzed using the design thinking method, and supported by the cost leadership and blue ocean strategy. The results of the analysis obtained from this study have been validated by experts, in the form of proposed formulations that are studied comprehensively, and are able to solve O&M service cost problems by implementing a cost leadership strategy through changes to return on investment schemes, use of local workforce, appointment schemes directly, as well as the transfer of 3rd party contracts. This research proves that the proposed formulation is able to support O&M service cost efficiency of 9.5%.
 
 

Service selection strategic analysis for self-operated e-commerce platforms under settlement

In order to study whether e-commerce platforms carry out service cooperation after settlement in-depth, this paper focuses on service selection strategic analysis for agent channels on some self-operated e-commerce platforms settled in hybrid e-commerce platforms. We present multi-leader-follower models in two different scenarios with the platforms as leaders and the manufacturers as followers and give some numerical experiments to analyze the impacts of service selection strategies for self-operated platforms on all supply chain members. Our finding shows that if the service cost efficiency is moderate or low, the self-operated platform prefers to provide its service for the agent; otherwise, its selection mainly depends on the unit product service fee. In addition, fierce service competition and high unit service fee are unfavorable to all members, while high service cost efficiency may hurt both the platform and the manufacturer.

Efektivitas Biro Umum dalam Menjalankan Program E-Surat di Sekretariat Daerah Provinsi Kalimantan Barat

The purpose of this research was to find out and analyze the effectiveness of the bureau of general affairs in running the Electronic Letter program at The Regional Secretariat of West Kalimantan Province. This Study uses Gibson et al’s theory of short-term Effectiveness which is seen from production, effieciency, and satisfaction. The method used in this research is qualitative, with descriptive research. The results showed that the effectiveness of bureau of general affairs in running the Electronic Letter program at The Regional Secretariat of West Kalimantan Province already existed but was not optimal. The effectiveness of the bureau of general affairs in running the Electronic Letter program has not been effective, due to, namely a) production; which consists of incoming letter service, mail disposition information services, letter numbering service have been running according to the stages even more efficient when viewed from the previous system, but not yet optimal. This is evidenced by the internet network that is still experience problems, employees or admins who are still experiening human error, and limited facilities and infrastructure; b) effieciency; which consists of time efficiency, service cost efficiency and service procedure effieciency, in terms of efficiency both internal and external parties state that it is quite optimal because the service is faster and more efficient but still needs to be improved; c) satisfaction; internal parties feel they are quite satisfied even though they are not optimal because there are still problems in the production section, but external parties are not satisfied this is because there are parties who are still having trouble tracking the whereabouts of the letter. The recommendations of this research are: 1) changing the mindset of employees gradually by increasing socialization related to the Electronic Letter program and increasing the motivation of each employee by building good relations between employees within the The Regional Secretariat of West Kalimantan Province; 2) involving all OPD (regional device organizations) to use the Electronic Letter application; 3) the provision of good facilities and infrastructure. Keywords: Effectiveness, The Electronic Letter Program, Bureau of General Affairs

Risk Aware Stochastic Placement of Cloud Services

Allocating the right amount of resources to each service in any of the datacenters in a cloud environment is a very difficult task. This task becomes much harder due to the dynamic nature of the workload and the fact that while long term statistics about the demand may be known, it is impossible to predict the exact demand in each point in time. As a result, service providers either over allocate resources and hurt the service cost efficiency, or run into situation where the allocated local resources are insufficient to support the current demand. In these cases, the service providers deploy overflow mechanisms such as redirecting traffic to a remote datacenter or temporarily leasing additional resources (at a higher price) from the cloud infrastructure owner. The additional cost is in many cases proportional to the amount of overflow demand. In this paper we study this approach and develop a novel mechanism to assign services to datacenters based on the available resources in each datacenter and the distribution of the demand for each service. We use comprehensive analysis to prove that the overall overflow cost is almost optimal for arbitrary demand distributions, as long as there are no dependencies among the services. We further show, using simulation based on real data that the scheme performs very well on realistic service workloads.

Vertical value-added cost information sharing in a supply chain.

We study a two-echelon supply chain with two homogeneous manufacturers and one common retailer who has full knowledge about his own value-added service cost structure that is unknown to the manufacturers. The retailer may choose to disclose his cost information to the manufacturers. Using a three-stage game-theoretic model, we derive optimal pricing strategies for each participant, and optimal information sharing strategies, and the optimal level of the value-added services for the retailer. Our study also reveals when the manufacturers should accept the disclosed information by the retailer. It is shown that information sharing does not always create a win–win situation among the partners in the supply chain. When the value-added service cost efficiency is low, the retailer is willing to share complete information with the manufacturers; however, information sharing harms the manufacturers’ profits if they accept the shared information. In contrast, when the value-added service cost efficiency is high, the common retailer has no incentive to share information with the manufacturers and the unique equilibrium is no information sharing. Finally, we utilize a revenue-sharing contract to achieve supply chain coordination and induce information sharing under asymmetric information.

Optimal operational strategies of capital-constrained supply chain with logistics service and price dependent demand under 3PL financing service

In a supply chain finance (SCF) system composed of a manufacturer, a retailer and a third-party logistics (3PL) enterprise, the market demand is dependent on the logistics service level and the retail price. This paper investigates the optimal operational strategies for the SCF system with the 3PL financing service when the retailer or the manufacturer is stuck with capital constraint, respectively. By constructing and solving Stackelberg game models, we obtain the optimal operational strategies of the above two scenarios, and combined with the sensitivity analysis of relevant parameters, we obtain the following conclusions. (1) For the SCF system with a capital-constrained retailer, except the manufacturer’s optimal wholesale price remains unchanged, other participants’ optimal decisions and the optimal profits of each participant increase with the logistics service sensitivity coefficient; except the manufacturer’s optimal wholesale price remains unchanged, other participants’ optimal decisions and the optimal profits of each participant decrease with the logistics service cost efficiency. (2) For the SCF system with a capital-constrained manufacturer, the optimal decisions and profits of supply chain participants increase with the logistics service sensitivity coefficient; the optimal decisions and profits of supply chain participants decrease with the logistics service cost efficiency. Our analysis suggests that the retailer and manufacturer must take into account 3PL enterprise’s decisions (logistics service level and logistics service price) under the 3PL financing service mode before making decisions.

Cost-sharing contract design in a low-carbon service supply chain

This paper investigates a service supply chain (SC) consisting of a service provider (SP) who is in charge of carbon emission reduction and service, and a service integrator (SI) who is responsible for low-carbon advertising, considering corporate social responsibility (CSR). Given that SP shares SI’s advertising cost, SI may have three types of cost sharing decisions, namely, not sharing any cost of SP (contract PA), sharing SP’s emission reduction cost (contract PAIE), or sharing SP’s service cost (contract PAIS). We establish three differential game models to explore the optimal decisions, and identify the conditions under which SP and SI would provide positive participation rates. Our findings demonstrate that consumers’ low-carbon preference, and chain members’ marginal profits and CSR behaviors significantly influence the optimal solutions. Furthermore, we indicate that two-way contracts (contracts PAIE and PAIS) could benefit the entire service SC and its members. Specifically, SI prefers contract PAIE when SP’s service cost efficiency is lower, whereas he would rather choose contract PAIS under a higher one. More importantly, contracts PAIS and PAIE would be the potential equilibrium contract when SI has a relatively high marginal profit. When it is sufficiently low, contracts PAIE and PA would be the possible equilibrium contract.

After-sale service deployment and information sharing in a supply chain under demand uncertainty

This paper investigates after-sale service deployment and information sharing strategies in a supply chain environment including the role of a manufacturer and an independent retailer. The manufacturer first needs to decide whether it is necessary to undertake the after-sale service by herself or delegate it to the retailer. Then, the retailer possessing better demand-forecast information decides whether to share their information with the manufacturer. When the manufacturer undertakes the after-sale service, we find that the retailer prefers to share the information with the manufacturer on the condition of highly cost efficiency for the manufacturer's after-sale service. However, we also find that information sharing does not always mean a win-win benefit for the whole supply chain partners. When the after-sale service is delegated to the retailer, our results show that only when the retailer's after-sale service cost efficiency and forecast variability are relatively low, the retailer prefers not to share information. Our analysis also indicates that the manufacturer may delegate the after-sale service to the retailer, even if the retailer does not have cost advantage. Compared with the situation where asymmetric information does not exist between the manufacturer and the retailer, the information advantage of the retailer may harm both parties and lead to a “prisoner's dilemma”. By examining the value of information forecast, we demonstrate that enhancing the forecast accuracy may be harmful to not only the manufacturer but also the retailer.

System modeling of demand responsive transportation services: Evaluating cost efficiency of service and coordinated taxi usage

This paper presents a continuum approximation model for the operating cost of demand responsive transit (DRT) systems in large urban networks. Applications of the proposed model shed light on ways demand and characteristics of the DRT system affect major components of cost: fleet, vehicle hours, and vehicle miles traveled. Verifying the relationship with empirical data, results show an accurate approximation of the operating cost for the paratransit system in New Jersey. Furthermore, we develop a systematic approach for evaluating the efficiency of policy implementations for DRTs. Finally, the circumstances where coordinated taxis could be a cost reduction strategy are identified.

The importance of health capital in an ageing population: a QALY approach

The importance of health capital, especially in relation to an aged population, is discussed. The value of health as a stock is important because it may contribute to the well-being and individual independence that influences the expectations and desires of humans for activities. Expected depreciation of health capital between two points in time may imply a demand for investments in health, which corresponds to flows of health services and activities performed by individuals. An efficient allocation of resources in this area demands measurement of health that is connected with analysis of activities that promote health in different age groups and activities. This paper presents the use of QALY in several empirical studies that have dealt with different ways to increase health capital. All of the cases illustrate the importance of new technologies to improve cost efficiency in services used by aged people.

Using patient experience to measure the quality of HIV care

Measurement of health-care quality in the UK is no longer restricted to evaluating the effectiveness of treatments or the cost efficiency of services. There is a drive towards a patient-based agenda which enables them to make a clear contribution to the way services are shaped by expressing their values and sharing experiences. Positive engagement with HIV care has proven benefits to patients and the mandatory use of standardized reported outcome measures provides an opportunity to include HIV patients in the process of creating and refining an evaluation tool which places emphasis on aspects of care that are significant to them. Ultimately, this will provide services users with a stronger voice to guide appropriate service change and support the continuing improvement of HIV care.

Treatment readiness, treatment engagement and behaviour change

Non-completion of treatment is a common occurrence in correctional contexts. Non-completion compromises service cost-efficiency, impacts adversely on staff and service user morale and may limit the effectiveness of therapy. Attention needs to be paid to enhancing offenders' readiness for treatment, and developing and maintaining their engagement. In this paper, we state that research and practice in offender treatment readiness and engagement need to be driven in four major ways: (1) the construction of models of engagement that are theoretically based and empirically evidenced that can underpin assessments and treatments; (2) the development of psychometrically robust assessments of treatment readiness, motivation and engagement that can be used to select offenders for treatment or measure change over time; (3) the design, implementation and evaluation of pre-treatment preparation procedures that can promote treatment engagement and completion; and (4) the development of strategies that address barriers to engagement as an integral part of treatment. This special issue contains contributions from leading researchers on the assessment of engagement, effects of engagement and non-engagement on outcomes, offenders' reasons for non-completion of treatment programmes, and the development of a measure of offenders' current concerns and life aspirations. These studies will improve research and practice in offender treatment readiness and engagement, and this could lead to better outcomes in terms of reduced re-offending.

Pricing, service level and lot size decisions of a supply chain with risk-averse retailers: implications to practitioners

This article develops a game theoretic model of a supply chain with one supplier and two risk-averse retailers competing in price, service and lot size, where the Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) production-inventory policy is adopted. After studying the existence of EOQ equilibrium, we investigate how to adjust their decisions when the economic environment changes. We find that one retailer will decrease its optimal lot size, retail price and service level when it becomes more risk averse or its service investment efficiency decreases. When the supplier's capacity increases, the retailers will reduce retail price and increase service level, which in turn results in a higher lot size. The effect of the risk sensitivity of one retailer on the rival retailer's decisions depends on the relative service cost efficiency of the retailer. When the absolute risk aversion and service investment efficiency of one retailer increase, the supplier's profitability will increase due to a higher total expected demand. We further give the managerial insights for practitioners, which helps managers to make right decisions in an uncertain environment.

Improving the cost efficiency of services to the chronic inebriate: an unexpected paradox.

An important component of evaluating any mental health or alcoholism treatment service is to examine the accessibility of the facility to individuals in need of such services. The present study examined the question of accessibility of treatment services to the chronic inebriate in terms of program location. Utilization data were compared for periods of time when a "sobering-up" facility was located in the skid row area of downtown Tampa, Florida, and when it subsequently moved to a working-class residential neighborhood 4 miles away. Results suggest that the move resulted in a decrease in inappropriate use of the facility. The potentials for services to the chronic inebriate are discussed.