Analysis of the supply chain is necessary to improve performance. For this reason, supply chain management (SCM) has received a lot of attention recently and supply chain design (SCD) is a concept that forms an integral part of the adoption and implementation of SCM. Effective SCD contributes towards better supply chain integration (SCI) which, in turn, contributes towards improved supply chain performance. The focus of this study is on the analysis of SCD practices. Designing the supply chain structure is a complex and demanding undertaking that needs to be aligned with the needs of the supply chain’s end customers, because their needs ultimately have to be satisfied. This study proposes a conceptual framework that has been developed from literature to assist organisations in the analysis of their SCD practices, with the aim of improving supply chain performance. The conceptual framework was exploratively tested by means of empirical research to determine whether it can be used as an assessment tool to assess the SCD practices of organisations. The study concluded that the conceptual framework that was developed in this study can be used as an assessment tool with which organisations can analyse their SCD practices. / Business Management / D. Com. (Business Management)

Analysis of the supply chain is necessary to improve performance. For this reason, supply chain management (SCM) has received a lot of attention recently and supply chain design (SCD) is a concept that forms an integral part of the adoption and implementation of SCM. Effective SCD contributes towards better supply chain integration (SCI) which, in turn, contributes towards improved supply chain performance. The focus of this study is on the analysis of SCD practices. Designing the supply chain structure is a complex and demanding undertaking that needs to be aligned with the needs of the supply chain’s end customers, because their needs ultimately have to be satisfied. This study proposes a conceptual framework that has been developed from literature to assist organisations in the analysis of their SCD practices, with the aim of improving supply chain performance. The conceptual framework was exploratively tested by means of empirical research to determine whether it can be used as an assessment tool to assess the SCD practices of organisations. The study concluded that the conceptual framework that was developed in this study can be used as an assessment tool with which organisations can analyse their SCD practices. / Business Management / D. Com. (Business Management)

In order to succeed with the Sustainable Development Goals, the mining of minerals will need to not only continue, but increase in the coming years. The extraction of minerals such as gold and cobalt is often associated with human rights violations and the financing of criminal enterprises. This has led to increased pressure on firms to implement effective responsible sourcing practices. While often seen as a major challenge to many firms, if leveraged correctly, responsible sourcing can be turned into significant competitive advantages and increased supply chain visibility. Given the need for more research in this area, the aim of this study is to understand what responsible sourcing practices are used among manufacturing companies so that an approach for responsible sourcing of minerals can be developed. Using a qualitative research design and following a systematic combining approach, interviews with large industrial manufacturers were conducted. Using thematic analysis, this thesis identifies the main drivers, enablers, barriers, and strategies used by manufacturing companies. While the findings show that responsible sourcing is on the agenda for all companies, it is clear that some firms take responsible sourcing more seriously than others. Therefore, it is suggested that firms need to depart from a cost-centric perspective and instead see the benefits and long-term value generated from responsible sourcing. Furthermore, the findings suggest that some companies are becoming increasingly aware of the need to know their supply chain, and how responsible sourcing practices can be beneficial by providing supply chain visibility. However, the current practices are limited because they are an inherently static representation of a dynamic system. The implementation of a supply chain digital twin is therefore presented as a potential way for firms to improve their responsible sourcing practices while at the same time gaining substantial business value. / För att lyckas med målen för hållbar utveckling måste brytningen av mineraler inte bara fortsätta, utan även öka under de kommande åren. Utvinning av mineraler som guld och kobolt är ofta förknippad med kränkningar av mänskliga rättigheter och finansiering av kriminella organisationer. Detta har lett till ett ökat tryck på företag att införa effektiva metoder för ansvarsfullt inköp. Även om det ofta ses som en stor utmaning för många företag kan ansvarsfullt inköp, om det används på rätt sätt, omvandlas till betydande konkurrensfördelar och bidra till ökad synlighet i leveranskedjan. Med tanke på behovet av mer forskning på detta område är syftet med den här studien att förstå vilka metoder för ansvarsfullt inköp som används bland tillverkningsföretag, så att ett tillvägagångssätt för ansvarsfullt inköp av mineraler kan utvecklas. Genom en kvalitativ forskningsdesign och enligt en systematisk kombinationsmetod genomfördes intervjuer med stora tillverkande företag. Med hjälp av tematisk analys identifieras i denna avhandling de viktigaste drivkrafterna, möjliggörarna, hindren och strategierna som används av tillverkningsföretag. Resultaten visar att ansvarsfullt inköp står på agendan för alla företag, men det är tydligt att vissa företag tar ansvarsfullt inköp på större allvar än andra. Därför föreslås det att företag måste avvika från ett kostnadsfokuserat perspektiv och istället se fördelarna och det långsiktiga värdet som genereras av ansvarsfullt inköp. Dessutom tyder resultaten på att vissa företag blir allt mer medvetna om behovet av att känna till sin leverantörskedja och hur ansvarsfulla inköpsmetoder kan vara fördelaktiga genom att ge större synlighet i leverantörskedjan. De nuvarande metoderna är dock begränsade eftersom de är en statisk representation av ett dynamiskt system. Implementeringen av en digital tvilling i försörjningskedjan presenteras därför som ett potentiellt sätt för företag att förbättra sina metoder för ansvarsfulla inköp samtidigt som de får ett betydande affärsvärde.

Introduktion- Den miljömässiga varianten av Supply chain management, även kallad Green supply chain management, har som mål att minimera eller eliminera negativ miljöpåverkan. Onödiga transporter innebär negativ miljöpåverkan. Trots transporters påverkan på miljön, finns lite forskning om samband mellan transporter och Green supply chain management. Syftet med studien är därför att utforma en strategi för att uppnå Green supply chain management och minska på onödiga transporter med fokus på osäkerhet, variation och transparens.   Metod- För att möjliggöra ett besvarande av syfte har en fallstudie bedrivits med hjälp av litteratur och ett fallföretag.   Resultat, analys, diskussion och slutsats - Fallföretaget påverkas negativt av osäkerhet, variation och har även brist på transparens i försörjningskedjan. Onödiga transporter genom återkallningar skapas på grund av kvalitetsbristerskapar hinder för en effektiv supply chain management strategi. Ett systematiskt tillvägagångssätt genom PDCA kan hjälpa fallföretaget att skapa en stabil grund och uppnå Green supply chain management. Det är viktigt att Plan-Do-Check-Act bedrivs med god kommunikation för att skapa transparens, hindra osäkerhet och variation. Green supply chain management kan uppnås genom en kombination av ISO 9001, ISO 14001 och Lean. Dessa delar ska bedrivas med Plan-Do-Check-Act för att minska på onödiga transporter. / Introduction- The environmental variant of Supply Chain Management, also known as the Green supply chain management, aims to minimize or eliminate negative environmental impacts.  Unnecessary transports are a negative environmental aspect and means negative environmental impact. Although transports affect the environment, there is little research on the relationship between transport and Green supply chain management. The purpose of the study is therefore to design a strategy for achieving Green supply chain management and reduce unnecessary transport with a focus on uncertainty, variability and transparency. Method- To enable the answering of purpose, a case study conducted with the help of literature and a case company. Results- The case company is negatively affected by uncertainty, variety, and also by a lack of transparency in the supply chain. Unnecessary transportations through recalls are created because of quality defects. This creates obstacles for a supply chain management strategy to be more effective. A systematic approach by Plan-Do-Check-Act can help the case company to create a stable basis and achieve green supply chain management. It is necessary to conduct Plan-Do-Check-Act with good communication in order to create transparency, prevent uncertainty and variation. Green supply chain management can be achieved through a combination of ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and Lean. These parts should be conducted with PDCA, which can reduce unnecessary transportation.

It has been argued for the past years that one of today’s main important factors for gaining competitive advantage is to implement CSR activities. There have been many studies showing the many benefits CSR have, not only to the organizations but also to society and the environment. However, CSR does not only concern the organization itself but also ensuring that the social and environmental behaviour is accomplished throughout the whole supply chain. Larger firms have the ability to implement and focus on several tasks at once, while small and medium-sized enterprises are struggling with limited resources and cannot afford any mistakes. This study is focusing on how SMEs with limited resources implement CSR within the supply chain and what difficulties they experience, since CSR is often seen as a complex and resource based issue. A case study was conducted at a SME in a B2B context and the study is based on a qualitative approach, with empirical data gathered from five in-depth interviews. After the empirical data was analysed it was concluded that by decreasing the supplier base is a way of gaining stronger contact and trust, also centralizing the supplier base in order to decrease transportation and emissions. SMEs with limited resources can outsource duties such as checkups and audits to external companies in order to assure quality and environmental criteria’s. Also, being an SME with limited resources indicates that the employees have to take on multiple roles in order to adapt to all customer and supplier demands, which was shown to be a complexity since obligations such as making a profitable procurement, were often prioritized before CSR. It was also found that the internal CSR communication was a major contributor to the lack of knowledge as well as interest in the subject, CSR is not seen as an obligation if not having anyone responsible for the CSR activities. Lastly, both CSR and digitalization were found to be two crucial keystones for organizational survival on the market.

<div>As the manufacturing and healthcare systems becomes more complex, efficiently managing these systems requires cooperation and coordination between different parties. This dissertation examines the coordination issues in a supply chain problem and diagnostic decision making in the healthcare system. Below, we provide a brief description of the problem and results achieved. </div><div> </div><div>With supply chain becoming increasingly extended, the uncertainty in the upstream production process can greatly affect the material flow that aims toward meeting the uncertain demand at the downstream. In Chapter 2, we analyze a two-location system in which the upstream production facility experiences random capacities and the downstream store faces random demands. Instead of decomposing the profit function widely used to treat multi-echelon systems, our approach builds on the notions of stochastic functions, in particular, the stochastic linearity in midpoint and the directional concavity in midpoint, which establishes the concavity and submodularity of the profit functions. In general, it is optimal to follow a two-level state-dependent threshold policy such that an order is issued at a location if and only if the inventory position of that location is below the corresponding threshold. When the salvage values of the ending inventories are linear, the profit function becomes decomposable in the inventory positions at different locations and the optimal threshold policy reduces to the echelon base-stock policy. The effect of production and demand uncertainty on inventory levels depends critically on whether the production capacity is limited or ample in relation to the demand. Only when the capacity is about the demand, the upstream facility holds positive inventory; otherwise, all units produced are immediately shipped to the downstream. We further extend our analysis to situations with general stochastic production functions and with multiple locations.</div><div> </div><div> </div><div>In Chapter 3, we examine the two-stage supply chain problem (described in Chapter 2) under the decentralized control. We consider two scenarios. In the first scenario, the retail store does not have any supply information including the inventory level at the manufacturing facility. We show that the upstream and downstream can be dynamically coordinated with proper transfer payment defined on local inventories and their own value function in the dynamic recursion. In the second scenario, the demand distribution is unknown to the manufacturing facility as well as the retail store does not know the supply information. We characterize the optimal transfer contracts under which coordination can be achieved, and propose an iterative algorithm to compute the optimal transfer contracts in the decentralized setting. The total profit of the decentralized system under our algorithm is guaranteed to converge to the centralized optimal channel profit for any demand and supply distribution functions. </div><div> </div><div>In Chapter 4, we provide a case study for the framework developed in [1]. The authors study the evaluation and integration of new medical research considering the operational impacts. As a case study, we first describe their two-station queueing control model using the MDP framework. We then present the structural properties of the MDP model. Since multiple classes of patients are considered in the MDP model, it becomes challenging to solve when the the number of patient classes increases. We describe an efficient heuristic algorithm developed by [1] to overcome the curse of dimensionality. We also test the numerical performance of their heuristic algorithm, and find that the largest optimality gap is less than 1.50% among all the experiments. </div><div> </div>

In today’s world, globalization has increased the competition among companies and functioned as a factor for increased product variety, increased amount of customized products and shorter product life cycles. Supply Chain management is considered one of the most critical strategies for increasing organizational effectiveness and enhancing the customer service. Supply Chain needs to be evaluated based on its performance of how efficient and effective it is. Quality on products and processes has becoming even more critical to companies’ success. Zero defects on the components and parts that meet the customers’ needs are important for the quality of the final products and quality efforts can decrease the costs throughout the Supply Chain. Moreover, Supply Chain’s cost identification is getting even more important in order for the companies to evaluate the performance of their channel and realize the efficiency of their activities based on their supply chain processes. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how the implementation of a performance measurement system can assist companies to improve the Supply Chain based on the identification of the relation between the evaluation of the Supply Chain and the quality and service that is provided to the customer. Moreover, the cost of the production and the after-sales service is measured, in order to have a clear image of the Supply Chain performance. A case study company, Giraff Technologies, was examined and investigated further in order the author to be able to support the results and the analysis of the primary research combined with the analysis of the literature review. Based on the results of the research it can be said that the quality performance of a company and the service that is offered to the customers can be enhanced through the measurement and evaluation of the Supply Chain performance. Better collaboration with the suppliers and customers, customer focus and continuous improvements are ways to improve not only the Supply Chain but also the quality and the service that is offered. The production cost is considered as a factor that can be influenced positively or negatively by the Supply Chain performance, whereas the after-sale service cost is not clear if it can be affected immediately from the Supply Chain performance.

Les entreprises industrielles évoluent désormais dans un environnement de plus en plus incertain. Ces incertitudes sont liées à la fois à l'amont et à l'aval de la chaîne logistique, mais aussi à la configuration interne de la chaîne et de ses systèmes d'information ou encore à des comportements organisationnels néfastes. Cette thèse a pour objectif de comprendre comment les entreprises industrielles gèrent les incertitudes présentes dans l'environnement de leurs chaînes logistiques. Notre recherche se déroule en deux étapes : une étude préliminaire et principale. L'observation participante menée en étude préliminaire a permis de montrer qu'une entreprise réputée en management de la chaîne logistique a choisi de restructurer ses ressources afin de diminuer la vulnérabilité de sa chaîne logistique. Ainsi, l'étude principale s'articule autour de l'approche basée sur les ressources et du courant des capacités dynamiques. La revue de la littérature montre que l'agilité et la résilience sont deux capacités dynamiques du management de la chaîne logistique. Mobilisant la méthode des cas comme heuristique permettant d'organiser la recherche, six études de cas sont menées au sein d'entreprises industrielles de tailles hétérogènes et de secteurs d'activités variés. Une fois les données collectées et codées sous forme de codage multithématique sur le logiciel NVIVO 8, les résultats s'organisent autour du protocole de cas. Ils retracent les incertitudes rencontrées par les entreprises industrielles et s'attachent à montrer quels outils, pratiques et stratégies sont développés pour diminuer la vulnérabilité. Ces outils, pratiques et stratégies sont des construits des capacités dynamiques et permettent d'identifier si les entreprises font preuves d'agilité et de résilience. Puis, les résultats montrent les difficultés au développement des capacités dynamiques et l'analyse identifie le manque de connaissance en management de la chaîne logistique comme barrière principale. La discussion de la thèse s'oriente autour de la connaissance comme réponse à l'incertitude. La thèse met en avant un décalage entre des connaissances académiques avancées en management de la chaîne logistique et des connaissances plus restreintes en entreprises. La littérature académique s'intéresse principalement aux entreprises matures en management de la chaîne logistique. Cependant, elles ne sont pas représentatives des autres entreprises industrielles. En s'intéressant au lien entre recherche, enseignement et pratique, il est possible d'identifier que le manque de connaissance en management de la chaîne logistique laisse un espace à la création d'effets de mode à la fois dans le monde de la pratique et de la recherche. Finalement, la thèse met en avant les conditions d'émergence de formes d'isomorphisme institutionnel dans les institutions universitaires, engendrant des effets de mode dans les travaux académiques, le tout n'ayant qu'un lien relatif avec la réalité empirique. / Industrial companies evolve from now on in a more and more uncertain environment. These uncertainties are linked to upstream and downstream the supply chain, but are also linked to the internal configuration of the supply chain and its information systems, or even linked to possible fatal organizational behavior. This thesis has for objective to understand how industrial companies manage their supply chains environmental uncertainties. The research takes place in two stages: a preliminary and main study. The participating observation led during the preliminary study showed that a company, famous in supply chain management, chose to restructure its resources in order to decrease the vulnerability of its supply chain. So, the main study is built around the Resource-based view based and around the dynamic capacities. The literature review shows that agility and resilience are two dynamic capacities of supply chain management. Using the case-study method as an heuristics allowing to organize the research, six case studies are conducted within industrial companies of heterogeneous sizes and varied business sectors. Once the data were collected and coded in the form of multithematic coding on the software NVIVO 8, the results get organized according to the case study protocol. They redraw the uncertainties met by industrial companies and attempt to show which tools, practices and strategies are developed to decrease the vulnerability. These tools, practices and strategies are some constructs of the dynamic capacities and allow identifying if companies show agility and resilience capabilities. Then, the results show the difficulties in the development of the dynamic capacities and the analysis identifies the lack of knowledge in supply chain management as the main barrier. The discussion of the thesis turns around knowledge as the answer to uncertainty. The thesis identifies a gap between strong academic knowledge in supply chain management and a more restricted knowledge in companies. The academic literature is mainly presenting the supply chain management held in mature companies. However, they do not represent other industrial companies. Focusing on the link between research, education and practice, it is possible to identify that a lack of knowledge in supply chain management leaves some room for the creation of latest fads in the world of practice and research. Finally, the thesis shows the emergence conditions for several forms of institutional isomorphism in the university institutions, engendering latest fads in the academic works, having only a relative link with the empirical reality.

This is the first research to empirically study the congruity in supply chain operations strategies. The tests show that the congruity in supply chain operations strategies are related to performance and also moderate the association between performance and the types of supply chain relationships. 308 manufacturing firms were studied for empirical tests. Various methods including multiple regressions, cluster analyses, and logistic regressions are applied in this study. Based on the tests, five hypotheses are supported and only one hypothesis is inconclusive. This dissertation contributes in different thresholds. First, by studying operations strategies through a different angle (the supply chain instead of a firm) this study reconciles results in the relationships between performance and operations strategies and between performance and supply chain relationships. Therefore, this study contributes to reconciling two long-term puzzles in both operations strategies and supply chain management literatures. Second, this research draws on three different disciplines, operations strategies, supply chain management and organization theory (resource dependence theory). This interdisciplinary approach provides a broader perspective in operations management research. Third, through this research, guidelines are provided for not only powerful firms but also the weak ones on how to improve their performance through developing different types of supply chain relationships and integrating their operations strategies with their supply chain members.

Background: COVID-19 pandemic had a vast and significant impact on today’s societies, in terms of economic, societal, and even environmental aspects. Global supply chains had to adapt to this changing landscape rapidly. Both supply and demand witnessed repercussions. The effects of COVID-19 on supply chains have been evident, with lockdowns and inconsistent supply and demand causing issues for international trade. Indeed, many companies were constrained to stop supply and production and could not deliver their goods.   Purpose: This study aims to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on transportation operations in logistics companies, more precisely by using the case of DHL to emphasize our study. The purpose is to analyze the impacts that the crisis had on Logistics operations, by focusing on DHL and the way the company was impacted, understood and overcame the disruption. This study will take into consideration economic, social and environmental aspects.   Method: The research will be based on a case study and empirical evidence to provide a comprehensive understanding of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on DHL’s supply chain operations and more precisely on logistics and transport. We used the Triple Bottom Line approach to measure the economic, social, and environmental performances of DHL. Further, the analysis used in this paper is an inductive thematic analysis, to emphasize the findings and provide a better accuracy to our results.   Results: The study aims to identify the effects that COVID-19 had on logistics operations, and it more particularly seeks to highlight the strategies used by logistics companies that could be useful for other companies that need to build more resilient and flexible supply chains in the face of future disruptions. The findings of this thesis will be valuable to businesses, supply chain managers, and policymakers seeking to understand the role of improving their supply chains. Thanks to the interviews that were conducted, the findings highlighted several strategies that have been implemented by companies, such as the acceleration in automation, efforts put towards employee conditions, and restructuring companies.