Remanufacturing is the process of restoring old, damaged and failed products to a condition as good as new . Whilst the practice of remanufacture has been conducted for almost a century, the attention it receives within mainstream business is increasing due to potential benefits associated with economic savings and reduced environmental impact. There are several challenges in operating a successful remanufacturing business, one of which is how to assess the feasibility of remanufacturing. Remanufacturing does not lend itself towards every product due to factors related to the product, process, market and business capabilities, therefore careful assessment should be conducted before taking on a remanufacturing endeavour. This thesis reports the research undertaken to aid decision makers assessing the feasibility of a product for remanufacture. The aim has therefore been to determine the requirements of assessing remanufacturing feasibility, then to develop a tool to support this activity. Requirements of the decision making process were established through a detailed review of the literature supplemented with additional interviews from remanufacturing businesses, whilst research gaps for support tools were identified through a systematic review of existing tools presented within academia. Through these reviews it was determined that current methods do not provide enough support in determining the impact of uncertainties found within remanufacturing against key assessment criteria, such as economic cost. Focus upon the tool development was therefore directed at estimating remanufacturing cost of a product under uncertain conditions. The tool was designed, utilising techniques such as Monte Carlo analysis, fuzzy sets and case based reasoning. A prototype of the tool was then implemented within an object oriented structure and deployed as web service. Testing and validation were conducted by demonstrating the functionality of the tool against a set of specification requirements, through two contrasting remanufacturing case studies identified within industry. In summary this research has developed a tool to support the assessment of remanufacturing viability through cost estimation under uncertain conditions, identifying requirements through a detailed literature review and interviews with industry and providing validation through two detailed case studies. The tool is novel in its ability to calculate both cost and the risk associated with the uncertainties present within the remanufacturing domain.

L’ouverture du secteur agroalimentaire à la concurrence nationale et internationale apparait dans cette recherche à la fois comme une opportunité pour les entreprises de ce secteur d’accéder aux ressources complémentaires et comme une contrainte au regard du caractère disputé de ce marché en débouchés.L’analyse de l’évolution des PME de l’économie camerounaise dans ce contexte apparait opportun au regard des difficultés que rencontrent ces entreprises depuis la libéralisation de notre économie. Les études relatives à la compétitivité des entreprises agroalimentaires mettent en avant les dimensions macro et méso-économiques de la compétitivité, au détriment d’une analyse centrée sur les comportements des acteurs et leurs projets. L’enrichissement des connaissances sur les caractéristiques des comportements des PME camerounaises prises individuellement, ainsi que sur les éléments de contingence interne et externe qui régissent et pèsent sur leur réussite dans le contexte de libéralisation sont mal connues voire absentes. L’objectif de l’étude est de comprendre ce qui sous-tend ces comportements concurrentiels dans un contexte particulier de libéralisation pour mieux les maîtriser. Pour ce faire, nous allons intégrer les approches de la dynamique concurrentielle et entrepreneuriale, pour améliorer les connaissances sur les comportements stratégiques des PME qui évoluent dans un contexte disputé en ressource et débouché. / The complexity of the spatial dynamics of material and energy flows in a circular economy context opens the debate on the interpretation of the interacting factors in the sustainable usage of resources throughout the product life's cycle. For our purposes, the circularity of bio-food flows is reflected in local logistics networks. In this context, these networks are presented as new ways of structuring processes, flow circuits and interconnections between actors. Therefore, in order to save resources, most local logistics networks opt for a flexible organization, a minimal hierarchy, and decentralized decision-making centers with clearly established roles. Flow management is based on this structural flexibility and enable the integration of all processes, activities and actors throughout the product life's cycle. This desire to "act together" is deployed in a process of public-private decompartmentalization where the different actors mingle and interact, each one exercising in his own way a function of "manager" and having a capacity of intervention (legal, media or social).

Activity-based costing (ABC) is one of the most-researched management accounting areas that can improve organisational performance (OP). However, the studies on ABC and its impact on OP were still deficient and contradictory. Furthermore, ABC might be the most advantageous approaches used concurrently with ISO 9000. This study aims to investigate the impact of the extent of ABC use and the extent of ISO 9000 implementation on OP in order to identify the role of ABC and ISO 9000 in improving OP, and, in addition, to assess the combined effects of ABC and ISO 9000 on OP. Two conceptual models were developed to illustrate the relationships between variables. There were 601 usable questionnaires (19.36 percent) received; 191 organisations that adopted both ABC and ISO 9000 compared to 410 organisations that adopted only ISO 9000. Three data analysis techniques were employed: exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and structural equation modelling (SEM). EFA and CFA results provide evidence that the extent of ABC use (CA: cost analysis, CS: cost strategy, CE: cost evaluation), the extent of ISO 9000 implementation (MP: management principle, CP: Cooperation principle) and organisational performance (OPP: operational performance, FP: financial performance) are multidimensional. SEM results indicate the extent of ABC use directly improves OPP and subsequently indirectly improves FP through OPP. On the other hand, the extent of ISO 9000 implementation of organisations that adopted only ISO 9000 improves neither OPP nor FP. However, the management principle (MP) of organisations that adopted both ABC and ISO 9000 can directly improve both OPP and FP, and subsequently indirectly improve FP through OPP. The result implies a potential synergy effect of ABC and ISO 9000, which extends the body of knowledge of management accounting and quality management research.

This thesis examines four parts of production and inventory models for buyer-supplier in the supply chain under deterministic conditions. The main objective is to find optimal lot-sizing decisions and inventory policies which derive from the classical inventory and Net Present Value (NPV) framework. Firstly, we study the production and inventory models from the classical framework to identify how to value the holding cost for buyer and supplier in the average profit or cost functions. Secondly, we propose the inventory model derived from the NPV framework to identify the incorrect model from the classical framework. It makes a clear distinction between physical inventory and opportunity costs and the supplier’s reward is identified as a lost term in the supplier’s profit function which it has been proved that the corrected supplier’s profit function does lead to a channel. Thirdly, we developed the quantity discount model derived from the NPV framework to help the supplier increase profits under constant demand. It is found that price discounts often lead to a solution very close to the joint optimal policy for buyer and supplier. Fourthly, four different VMI models are developed which derive from the NPV framework for single-supplier and single buyer under deterministic conditions. The experimental results show that the VMI+ Policy can guarantee to achieve the perfect channel coordination and gives the highest supply chain profit more than other VMI approaches and the classical framework.

The emergence of environmental or green issues in global supply chains has made it an essential practice to measure the performance of organisations of not only from their financial and management perspectives but also their environmental performance, particularly logistics service providers (LSPs) as service providers. There has been little work done during last two decades linking the three topics of green service quality (GSQ), logistics service quality (LSQ), and the Thai government’s logistics performance index (TLPI) for the logistics sector. The objective of this thesis was to investigate issues pertaining to GSQ and LSQ, and their impact on the TLPI for logistics providers in Thailand. Based on an extensive literature review, three research questions were proposed for this thesis to address gaps in the body of knowledge. GSQ is a new area of theory development and few research studies have focussed on the on the integration of both green and logistics service quality. The study used a rigorous three-phase methodological framework originally developed for the marketing discipline for item and scale development and applied more recently to logistics research. A mixed method approach used semi-structured interviews in Phase One, in conjunction with the literature, to generate and develop variables of GSQ and LSQ. These variables were tested in a Phase Two empirical study of Thai LSPs and their customers using a questionnaire survey. Finally, in Phase Three structured interviews were conducted to verify and validate the overall results. The findings indicate that LSQ has a positive and significant effect on TLPI, and that effect is more pronounced when GSQ measures are included. Such measures indirectly affect TLPI through LSQ. The findings also propose a final set of twenty-eight GSQ and LSQ variables of importance to LSP performance as perceived by Thai LSPs and their customers, and are related generally to green safety, regulations and collaboration; time and services; order service quality; and order procedures competencies. In light of this study, Thai LSPs should consider introducing GSQ as part of their business and the Thai government might include GSQ measures as part of its TLPI.

The release of new products to the market goes through a process of Research and Development (R&D), manufacturing, and service respectively. Much research has been done on improving manufacturing processes. This research focuses on enhancing current Manufacturing Strategies by making three important and related groups of contributions within R&D and service. The aim of the research was to develop tools and techniques to increase the ‘Fitness” of a company. The first contribution relates to a Fit Development Toolbox (FDT) to identify the interdependencies between the 11 well-known tools of Toyota’s Product Development (PD) system within R&D. Using the proposed FDT a new framework has been developed for implementing Toyota’s PD system more efficiently based on the primary data collected from 112 companies. The second contribution deals with all sources of Unfit demand and how waste affects the flow of processes within R&D. This has been achieved by developing the Fit Flow Index (FFI) using primary data from 322 companies to measure the flow of the PD system at any stage of the project. The proposed index decreases the chances of creating queues and bottlenecks within the PD system which in turn enhances innovation and productivity. The third contribution concentrates on formulating a Fitness index for evaluating quality of services provided by Starbucks after adopting Lean principles. A Fit Customer Satisfaction (FCS) score was calculated using primary data collected from 822 surveys, which in conjunction with the proposed Fitness Index (FI), enables companies to measure their Fitness level in response to applying continuous improvements.

The study investigates how SMEs generate new product creativity through different means of innovation strategies and their antecedents. It examines the fundamental role of the CEO in directing a firm’s information seeking orientation, a firm’s absorptive capacities in facilitating the process of absorbing information and lastly the combination of exploitation and exploration innovations to achieve ambidexterity. To this end, to address the bottom line importance of the ambidextrous strategy, new product creativity is hypothesised to be positively related and acts as a vital bridge linking ambidexterity and financial performance. Existing literature shows limited empirical support for a firm’s ability to pursue both exploitative and explorative innovations for performance outcomes. In particular, very little is known of the ambidexterity consequence in new product creativity. Literature also lacks empirical evidence on leadership-based antecedents and understanding of how ambidexterity works in the context of SMEs. To examine the relationships, the study uses mixed methods of content analysis, econometrics and financial ratios to generate longitudinal and objective data for 148 SMEs. Seemingly Unrelated Regression is then employed to analyse and test the hypotheses. Findings show the importance of generating a high number of creative ideas by demonstrating a positive empirical link with future financial performance. It also found that given the resource impediments of SMEs, the most appropriate approach to successful new product creativity is to manage exploitation and exploration innovations sequentially. In addition, contrary to the popular view of external information driving firms’ innovation strategy, deep understanding of the firm internally may be most important. Lastly, the result proves that despite being generic in nature and having an insignificant effect in driving either exploration or exploitation separately, future focus becomes an important factor when it comes to the firm’s ability to balance innovation ambidextrously.

The service sector over the last few decades has become a symbol of prosperity and growth in many economies around the world in terms of its contribution to GDP growth, employment and standard of living. Despite this, the perception among most economists that productivity of services lags behind manufacturing still persists. Several scholars have attributed this to the conceptual, empirical and practical problems of measuring productivity in services. In an attempt to address these problems, the systematic review of extant literature and existing scales and semi-structured interviews led to the development of a theoretically grounded model and multi-item scales for measuring service productivity and its related constructs. The data was collected from higher education academics using a questionnaire instrument and was analysed using exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling to empirically assess and validate the proposed service productivity model and to test the research hypotheses. The findings reveal that resource commitment positively and significantly influences employee readiness and customer readiness. In addition, resource commitment, employee readiness and customer readiness positively and significantly impact on service productivity. Finally, service productivity positively and significantly influences stakeholder satisfaction. Each of the relationships in the conceptual model was supported and resource commitment has the greatest impact on both employee and customer readiness. Overall, the results suggest that the antecedent determinants of service productivity are resource commitment, employee readiness and customer readiness and the consequential determinant of service productivity is stakeholder satisfaction. Theoretically, this thesis advances our understanding of productivity measurement in services and contributes to its multidisciplinary theory building by establishing the determinants of service productivity and proposing and validating a conceptual model for measuring service productivity. Methodologically, this thesis contributes to the existing scales in marketing by developing new scales for measuring the researcher`s proposed constructs. Managerially, the proposed model and conceptual framework highlight the factors that service managers can employ in measuring, managing and improving productivity in their organisations.

The aim of this research is to study and understand the concept of agility with the aim of providing a methodology for its implementation in small and medium size manufacturing organisations (SMEs). The objectives of the research are: 1. To provide a comprehensive understanding about agility in manufacturing organisations through a survey of relevant literature. 2. To identify the main elements of the questionnaire assessment tool needed for agility in manufacturing SMEs. 3. To establish a framework to determine the different between actual and required level of agility. 4. Demonstrate the utility of the methodology, in order to assist manufacturing SMEs to adopt agility as a characteristic. The review of available literature and the work with the collaboration company during the period of the research led to the development of an agility improvement methodology which includes a questionnaire assessment tool for small and medium size manufacturing organisations (SMEs). This assessment tool when used in the case study companies resulted in successful outcomes in each company. The applications of the methodology in the eight case study companies confirmed the applicability of the tool in measuring the level of agility business environment drivers and the level of agility practices and pinpointed areas for improvement. The resultsfrom applying the assessment tool in the case study companies confirmed the wider utility of the methodology used in this research. Each company confirm a willingness to embark on improvement actions. For each of the eight companies, the results of the improvement actions demonstrated beneficial tactical outcomes to the satisfaction of the companies involved. Demonstrating the effectiveness of the methodology when applied to existing operational activities.

Process improvement has been identified as a central topic of operations management, being relevant to the different functional areas and assisting in providing the benefits operations management aims to realise. While extensive research has been conducted on specific process improvement methodologies, high resource requirement of specific process improvement methodologies make them inappropriate for many Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs). Compared to specific improvement methodologies, organisational learning was identified as an appropriate theoretical perspective from which to analyse process improvement activities within SMEs, leading to the presentation of the following three research questions: How do engineering-oriented SMEs undertake process improvement? What is the applicability of the three models of organisational learning within engineering-oriented SMEs? How does organisational learning contribute to understanding of process improvement within engineering-oriented SMEs? The research questions were addressed through in-depth, interpretive, interview based case studies with 14 Engineering Oriented SMEs. The six exploratory cases studies enabled the identification of specific process improvement practices that related isolated problems or opportunities with organisational level changes. These activities appeared to require management to implement formalised operational processes to ensure changes were captured within operational procedures and subsequently used by operational staff. Management support and culture then appeared to affect the ability of process improvement practices to provide firm level benefits to the case companies. Without directions by management or acceptance by operational staff, efforts directed towards process improvement tended to have limited impact on the benefits companies were able to realise from process improvement. Findings were then analysed from three conceptualisations of organisational learning identified within operations management literature. This provided theoretically underpinned insight to the exploration of process improvement, emphasising the importance of experience, involvement with external parties and the multi-level nature of organisational culture. Following the analysis of the exploratory phase, the findings were confirmed within 6 additional engineering-oriented SMEs (2 were excluded). The confirmatory case companies allowed the further exploration of the relationships between the emergent themes in order for the third research question to be addressed. Organisational learning provided justification for the interaction and bidirectional relationship between process improvement and culture. Organisational learning also provided justification for the important role of management, in relation to interpreting the operating environment and adapting how they provided resources to process improvement. The research thus contributes to operations management theory, by building upon organisational learning theory, in terms of how process improvement is conceptualised, factors affecting the benefits realised from process improvement and the importance of management to provide resources and direction to process improvement activities. Within all the case companies, this involved both providing sufficient resources in terms of training and time to engage in process improvement, but also selecting work that provided firms with sufficient process improvement opportunities. By effectively engaging in process improvement, firms appeared better equipped to compete against larger firms and low cost economies.