Supply Organizations Research Articles

Managing the Dynamics of New Technologies in the Global Supply Chain

Technology has been rapidly changing the business environment over the past several decades, and these changes are occurring at an accelerating rate. How to effectively integrate, deploy, and manage technologies in a cost-efficient manner across an organization's supply chain is a key concern of business practitioners. Due to the significant resources of personnel and money required to implement these technologies, as well as the potential for disruptions to ongoing business operations, it is imperative for technology implementers to reduce their risks. In this article, we discuss the supply chain impact of the following technologies: radio frequency identification, the Internet of Things, Industry 4.0, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and blockchains. We identify the implementation challenges and expected benefits of these technologies and the managerial implications of merging the technologies to create a long-term strategic competitive advantage within a multiorganizational supply chain setting.

Managing Customer Success in Business Markets: Conceptual Foundation and Practical Application

Customer success management is gaining momentum in business markets. From an initial focus on selected industries, such as software-as-a-service, interest in customer success is spreading among business-to-business marketing practitioners. To date, academia has largely neglected this concept and its organizational implementation. Based on extant managerial literature and research on value in use in business markets, we distinguish between customer success as a customer-perceived construct, customer success management as a joint customer-supplier management process, and the emerging job position of customer success managers in supplier organizations. Based on the case of a provider of IoT devices, software and services in decision agriculture, we illustrate how customer success management is practiced in a business marketing context and refine our understanding of customer success management and its constituents. Finally, we suggest promising avenues for future research in this managerially important, under-researched and rapidly growing domain.

Differences Between Supplier Development Programme of Foreign and Local Malaysian Automotive Suppliers

Research into supplier development has raised issues on the buyer’s relationship with the supplier. A buyer with collaborative relationship would have more interest in supplier development. From the viewpoint of the suppliers, buyers who provided assistance could help the suppliers in developing their capability, a situation that might be particularly relevant in developing and emerging countries. The automotive manufacturers have implemented supplier development programmes for their suppliers, both in developed and developing countries. This raises a question on supplier development programmes in developing countries: How do supplier development programmes differ between a local (Malaysian) supplier and a foreign (non-Malaysian) supplier for Malaysian automakers (buyers)? In this research, interviews were conducted at three supplier organisations, of which one was Australian and two were Malaysian, where all three were suppliers for a Malaysian automaker. This study found that the Malaysian and Australian suppliers differed in supplier categories, customisation versus standardised products and buyer involvement. The study suggests that buyer differences with regard to supplier relationship, supplier commitment, type of product and size of supplier organisation play a role in supplier development.

Interval Type-2 Intuitionistic Fuzzy Logic System for Forecasting the Electricity Load

A study on load forecasting prediction is important for efficient management of users' demands for any utility such as electricity and gas. Many computational intelligence approaches have been adopted for short term electricity load forecasts. For instance, artificial neural network, traditional fuzzy neural networks, support vector machines and other intelligent methods have been adopted in the literature. It is well known that load forecast is an important input for management decision systems in every power supply organization. Fuzzy logic systems (type-1 and type-2) have proven to be one of the effective tools for many load forecasting problems. In this study, interval type-2 intuitionistic fuzzy logic system equipped with membership functions, non-membership functions and hesitation indices is proposed for very short and short-term load forecasting for the first time. Gradient descent method is used to optimize the parameters of the developed model. The proposed model is compared with the traditional interval type-2 fuzzy logic and traditional neural network systems. Experimental analyses reveal that the proposed model outperform the two traditional systems in many load instances.

Hierarchical management model of heat supply to consumers

The article proposes a hierarchical management model for heat supply to consumers based on the method of bilevel programming. An organizational model of heat supply to consumers in the form of a Unified Heat Supply Organization in a two-tier control system is considered, when the regulators (regional tariff service) manages tariffs for consumers, and heat sources cover the given demand from consumers from the condition of obtaining maximum profit. With the help of bilevel approach, the technical and economic indicators of the district heating are calculated. The proposed mathematical model makes it possible to take into account the technical and economic characteristics of heat sources and heat networks, the interests of the participants in the process of heat supply to consumers and to determine the optimal conditions for controlling the functioning of district heating systems.

Coordination and Profit Optimization by Producer-Distributor System of Agricultural Products in Bangladesh

This study, presents three different mathematical models: Producer, Distributor and Coordination modelwhich negotiate with a Producer-Distributor system for producing and distributing ofagricultural products in Bangladesh. In this paper, we investigated supply chain network (SCN) are two distinct freelance supply organizations. SCN management has the difficulties for the disconnected and freelance economic people. Further, fast technological changes and high fight build SCN a lot of complicated. The problem of locating distribution centers (DCs) is one among the foremost necessary problems in design of SCN. Current study, SCN was modeled using a formulation in mixed integer linear programming (MILP) problem, in which the facilities are coordinated by mutually sharing information with each other between producer and wholesaler. We think, this research presents a real life coordination optimization problem. The formulated MILP model is solved by using a mathematical programming language (AMPL) and results obtained by appropriate solver MINOS.

Features of Information Supply Organization Land Market Participants in the Conditions of a Voluntary Association of Territorial Groums

The article examines the state and features of information support for peasants (potentially dominant participants in the land market) about land management and land reforms in the context of voluntary unification of territorial communities, prices, etc. The study of public opinion in this area of public life was carried out by means of a survey. A comparative characteristic of the land resources of Ukraine is given. The reasons for the emergence of stagnant phenomena in the reforming of the agrarian sector of the economy are revealed. The problems and the effect of technical and economic factors of influence on the organizational and informational support of rural participants in the land market are revealed. Separate political, economic, informational and socio-humanitarian features of this process are highlighted. The role of information support itself in the effective functioning in the innovation and logistics chain not only of the agricultural sector of the economy, but also of processing enterprises, the economic and financial stability of voluntarily united territorial communities and the national economy as a whole, and on this basis the achievement of stable development of society has been determined. The influence of awareness of land market participants on the effectiveness of state policy and the development of administrative-territorial reform and activation of the formation of associations of territorial communities is determined. Specific proposals are given for improving the awareness system of land market participants and economic methods of managing technical and economic factors at different levels of management, the development of basic, most important measures and principles of their management is proposed.

Algorithmic Provision of System of Optimal Distribution of Tender Projects between Executors by Types of Work in Mining Industry

Today, in order to manage a mining and industrial enterprise, it is necessary to ensure the planning and management of the project activities of the company at all its stages. During the implementation of the project, at the initial phase of its life cycle, a significant impact on further success is provided by the resource and procurement management subsystem in particular. This subsystem is responsible for the material and technical support of the project, including the processes of acquiring goods, products and services from external supplier organizations: selection of suppliers and contractors and conclusion of contracts with them. In a market economy, the best solution to the problem of selecting performers is possible only in free competition. For this reason, the most commonly used form of selection of contractors for work put forward by the customer is the competitive form. This selection form is implemented in the form of contract bidding, or tender. Due to the breadth of the spread of the competitive form of selection of proposals for work on pre- announced conditions, the problem of selecting performers for a particular project from the number of applicants for the tender becomes urgent. In this case, it is necessary to take into account the requirements for the work execution process and for counterparties with whom contracts are concluded based on the results of tenders. The solution of the problem of the optimal assignment of contractors applying for projects on a competitive basis significantly increases the efficiency of financing distribution, reduces the time frame for the implementation of the work package and produces a general positive economic effect, which determines the relevance of the research topic.

An approach to estimate the back order penalty cost of a manufacturing company

The classical inventory models solely rely on accurate estimate of the back order cost, with a view to establish economic order quantity (EOQ) that must be placed by a customer. Recognizing and quantifying the adverse effects of loss of customer goodwill owing to the inability of a raw material or product supplier organisation to meet customer demands should not only focus on direct penalty cost computation, but should also incorporate change in customers’ future demand owing to this backordering phenomenon. A lot of classical and mathematical approaches focused on the computation of the back order penalty cost coefficient; which gives an organisation a clue of the customer disappointment index, and not the estimated back order cost required for EOQ computation. In light of this, this paper proposes an approach that could be utilized to accurately compute the back order penalty cost of an organisation. The approach considers: (i) the number of times backordering phenomenon have occurred in an organisation, (ii) the decision a customer takes when backordering occur once or couple of times during the ordering phases of an organisation and (iii) myriads of penalties that a customer bestow on a raw material or product supplier organisation for backordering its order, to establish the backorder cost of this organisation. The approach proposed in this study serve as a useful information to suppliers in ascertaining the raw material backorder cost based on their customer responses to backordering, with a view to ensure sustainable raw material supply.

Государственные закупки в Российской Федерации: ретроспектива и развитие

The sphere of state and municipal procurement is one of the most dynamically developing areas of state regulation. Since 2013, 46 Federal laws have been adopted, which amended Federal Law No. 44-FZ, and more than 100 by-laws. Significant changes in the sphere of state and municipal procurement related to the requirements for the implementation of national projects were made in 2019. It is obvious that the norms of legal regulation of the 44-FZ require systematization, a critical look and development of further directions for improvement. To this end, the article discusses the innovations of Federal Law 44-FZ and its by-laws in the relations and development and offers directions for further improvement of the Law. Legal, comparative and statistical methods of analysis were used in writing the article. The results of the study show that the current system of state and municipal procurement does not fully meet the requirements of efficiency, is not convenient for supplier organizations, and requires further procedural and personnel optimization. Proposals for further development are given in these areas.

Customers’ Driven Green Supply Management and Organization Performance

The purpose of this study is to identify the impact of various elements of customers’ driven green supply chain management such as internal green supply chain management, environmental collaboration with customers and environmental monitoring of suppliers over the environmental performance of an organization. For the purpose of this research, a survey was conducted in Karachi from the individuals involved in manufacturing and service providing industries. The survey was conducted using a questionnaire. The results indicated that all variables studied in this research including internal green supply chain management, environmental collaboration with customers’ and environmental monitoring of suppliers’ positively affect the overall environmental performance of a firm. An organization can enhance its environmental performance by effectively applying the strategies for green supply chain management. Green supply chain management has become a critical aspect in the current era as it has emerged as most vital attribute to sustainable environment.

Taxonomies of trust in supply chain risk management in the South African third party logistics industry

Orientation: Many organisations find it difficult to implement supply chain risk management (SCRM) processes successfully without the existence of trust in buyer–supplier relationships. Research purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the taxonomies of trust in SCRM in a buyer–supplier relationship within the South African third party logistics (3PL) industry. Motivation for the study: The advantages and disadvantages of trust in buyer–supplier relationships have been researched extensively. However, within the context of South Africa, there is a dearth of research on the main components of trust in buyer–supplier relationships when implementing SCRM processes. Research design, approach and method: A generic qualitative research method was used to gather data. A total of 21 purposively selected senior managers were interviewed from buyer and supplier organisations in South Africa with headquarters located in Gauteng province participated in semi-structured interviews. Within this sample, 10 buyer and 10 supplier organisations were interviewed. Main findings: The findings of this study indicate that value similarity improves SCRM processes by relationship building, transparency, information sharing and similar supply chain objectives. Past performance improves SCRM processes by increasing the business knowledge of supply chain partners, confidence in ability and goal congruity. Risk perceptions improve SCRM processes by supply chain partner alignment and similar intentions. Social trust improves SCRM processes by increasing the responsiveness, agility and communication of supply chain partners. Practical/managerial implications: This study provides practitioners in the 3PL industry with insights into the role of having trust in their buyer–supplier relationships, as trust acts as a catalyst and enabler when implementing effective SCRM processes. Contribution/value-add: The theoretical contribution of this study is the use and adoption of the Trust Confidence and Cooperation Model by Earle, Siegrist and Gutscher (2010), to create a taxonomy of trust within a SCRM and South African 3PL context.

Developing a tool to measure the organizational resilience of Tanzania's water supply systems

Confronted with serious environmental challenges, water supply organizations in Tanzania struggle to prioritize and allocate resources to building resilience to floods so that they can provide uninterrupted service or resume services after a crisis in a timely manner. A study of the key indicators and principles of organizational resilience, combined with input from a panel of water industry experts, led to the development of a tool to gauge organizational resilience that was tested with data from a Tanzanian water authority. Awareness of environmental issues, having an emergency response plan in place, providing staff and the public with opportunities to learn more about building resiliency, clear and ongoing communications, and strong leadership emerged as the most important indicators for measuring the organizational resilience of water supply systems. Encompassing change readiness, leadership and culture, legal frameworks and institutional setup, and networks and relationships, the assessment tool that was developed can guide water authority managers worldwide in developing processes to ensure uninterrupted service to their communities.

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND WORK SAFETY SYSTEMS IN COMPLIANCE WITH INDUSTRY 4.0: RESEARCH DIRECTIONS

Industry 4.0 is the contemporary approach that denotes the transformation process in the global chains of value creation. This approach has a potential to remove restrictions between physical objects, converting them into a comprehensive complex system of interoperable, interconnected and interdependent components. Given Industry 4.0 becoming the eminent concept, occupational health and safety management (OHSM) systems have been facing new challenges. On the other hand, to the best of our knowledge, we argue that current state of the art does not sufficiently take account of whether the “Fourth Industrial Revolution” will impact occupational health and safety in industry 4.0-based supply chains. The main goal of this research, therefore, is to demonstrate several new research opportunities that may advance our knowledge of Industry 4.0 based OHSM. In this regard, the contribution of this study is twofold: first, it investigates the current literature studying how Industry 4.0 may affect OHSM activities in contemporary supply chains and organizations. Secondly, given the analysis of the current state of the art, future research directions and proposals are discussed.

A Mathematical Model for Optimal Number of Heat Consumers Connection to the Heat Supply System

In the modern world, the efficient use of energy is an extremely important aspect of human activity. In particular, heat supply systems have significant economic, environmental and social importance for both heat consumers and heat supply organizations. The economic status of all participants in the heat supply process depends on the efficiency of the functioning of the heat supply-systems. The reliability of the functioning of systems depends on vital processes such as the work of hospitals and industrial enterprises. With such a close network communication, reliable and efficient operation of power supply systems is critical. In this article, ways to improve the efficiency of heat supply systems are considered. A mathematical model for improved planning of heat supply systems by connecting the optimal set of new heat consumers is presented. For each single customer, when there is an alternative option for connecting this consumer to the existing heat network, it is possible to choose the only optimal solution. This becomes possible due to the restrictions and the procedure for selecting variants from a subset of binary variables corresponding to alternatives. The procedure for finding the optimal number of consumers for connection to the existing heat network is presented, which is the rationale for increasing the number of existing consumers of the heat network. The testing was carried out and the results of the mathematical model by an example of test heat networks are presented. Directions of further study of increasing the efficiency of heat supply systems and integrating the presented mathematical model with modern software complexes are determined.

МЕТОДИКА ОЦЕНКИ ФИНАНСОВОГО СОСТОЯНИЯ ЭЛЕКТРОСЕТЕВЫХ ОРГАНИЗАЦИЙ: СУЩНОСТЬ И РЕЗУЛЬТАТЫ АПРОБАЦИИ

The article describes the economic principles of the work of power supply organizations in terms of government regulating of tariffs (prices) for their services. The influence of restraining prices in the electricity market on the financial condition of power supply companies has been shown as following: slowdown in profitability, lack of funds for the renewal and modernization of production assets, increase in transmission losses, malfunctions and reduced quality of the provided services. It has been stated that using the data of the objective assessment of financial state, it is possible to achieve an increase in the efficiency of the power supply organizations and to ensure their stable financial condition. The need to develop methods for assessing the financial status of power grid organizations, taking into account their industry characteristics has been substantiated. The method proposed in the research, which is based on using a point-rating system, involves the classification of organizations according to the type of their financial condition, according to the actual level and rating of each of the selected financial indicators in points. Approbation of the developed methods (as an example are taken the power supply organizations of the Primorsky Territory: Far Eastern Distribution Grid Company JSC, Mikhailovskagropromenergo JSC, Transfiguration Energy Networks LLC) shows their reliability. The methods provide a comprehensive and objective assessment of the financial status of power supply organizations and allow not only to identify specific shortcomings in the activities of a particular organization, but also to provide conditions for their elimination in order to sustainably develop the enterprises of the electric power industry and increase the efficiency of their operation.

Outcome of Selective Dis-integration on Supply Chain Efficiency and Organisation Performance

Supply chain has become the spine of commerce. Business today consistently demanding coordinated and integrated way to manage the supply and demand flow. Marketplace has evolved into a dynamic, customer centric smarter and agile ways of working. This has prompted to relook at the information technology (IT) linked integration. IT and systems integration are facilitating supply chain management (SCM) for improved supply chain efficiency (SCE). This study examined the direct relationship between SCI and SCE and SCI and organisation performance (PER) and the relationship between SCE and PER by classifying different variables associated and drawing an analytical model. Furthermore, to fit into the demand driven economy, this study introduces a new attribute named selective dis-integration (DIS) and examined its' impact on SCE and PER. Data sample for this study are collected through mixed survey and model is tested using non-parametric partial least square regression.

Identification of Electric Power Losses on the Basis of Systematization of Registration Data

Purpose of research. is cost reduction of electric grid companies due to development of information management system of commercial losses. Implementation of an information system provides information systematization and formation of electric power balances capable to output information about losses on various sites of network structure such as 0.4 kV air and cable power lines.Methods.Losses estimate method which uses summarized information about network schemes and loadings. This method includes calculation of electric power losses on the basis of losses dependence on total length and lines, total power and equipment received on the basis of technical parameters of lines and equipment or statistical data.Results.There is a problem with losses tracking of electric power on various voltage levels in many power supply organizations. It is connected as with lack of functionality in existing information systems of cuts formation on various levels of network structure and also with network structure maintenance on each connected subscriber. Electric power supply organizations have no opportunity to trace electric power transport systemically from supplying elements (tires of substations) to 0.4 kV air and cable lines of low voltage transfer. It happens due to hierarchy lack in existing structures of supplying elements. It is impossible to define on what network sites losses exceed admissible norms and manage them without registration data systematization.Conclusion.Information system was implemented on the basis of an objective which systematizes registration data and forms electric power balances on various levels of network structure. Review results (data collection) have information about alleged commercial losses on definite electric network sites.

A transition from goods-dominant to service-dominant exchange logic in a B2B relationship: A relationship positioning perspective

The study complements the dominant interpretations of positioning in marketing management research by introducing a relational perspective on positioning in the industrial markets. Instead of focusing on products, brand, or company image only, the study focuses on the exchange logic of the relationship. The study suggests that exchange logic of the relationship i.e. relationship logic comprises a fundamental unit of positioning in the industrial markets. Accordingly, the study defines that relationship logic stems from the dynamics of the action, structural and management dimensions that integrate the buyer and supplier organizations into their mutual relationship. Through a longitudinal empirical study of a relationship between buyer and supplier companies in the food service industry, we show how the relationship has been repositioned from goods-dominant to service-dominant relationship logic. The results reveal elements on the action and structural dimensions, their mutual dynamics and managerial reframing actions that catalyze changes in the relationship logic, i.e., reposit the relationship. The results are organized into a framework that delineates the relationship positioning dimensions, and discusses the implications of such relationship positioning to guide further academic research and managerial practice.

Airflow Organization in a Transformable Shelter

The environmental control system of a shelter can provide comfortable temperature, air velocity and fresh air supply for members indoor, protecting them from the extreme weathers or oxygen-poor environment in the field. A shelter with transformable walls will have a large available space including the core module and extended modules for diverse demands such as dining or sleeping. The airflows in such a limited space can be inevitably influenced by walls and furniture. In the study, a transformable shelter with top supply and bottom return air organization mode was taken as the research object. The air supply duct on the ceiling of the shelter was designed to uniform the supplying air quantity through each outlet by adding baffles in the duct. Baffles can also make the export winds nearly perpendicular to the duct wall. The indoor airflow velocity and temperature fields in the condition of people gathering for dinner were obtained by simulation, so as that in the condition of people scattering for sleeping. In the dining condition, the barriers to the uniform airflow and temperature are the crowd occupying the core module. In the sleeping condition, the dominating barriers are the walls between different modules. The airflows were uniformed between different modules by opening apertures across the partitions. In view of human comfort, a comprehensive evaluation of the air flow organization was given, which presents an essential reference for system design and optimization.