This research concerns SMEs in the Sri Lankan garment manufacturing and export industry and explores success factors in managing their supply chains. The overall aim of the study is to better understand successful supply chain management (SCM) practices which have been implemented by SMEs in the Sri Lankan garment exporting industry and the obstacles faced in their implementation. Eight telephone interviews were followed by 20 in-depth, face-to-face interviews with senior managers in Sri Lanka. Documentary evidence was also collected and analysed. Combined with a literature review on manufacturing operations, the data collection led to the development of three criteria for the selection of cases for the research: 1) maintaining direct contacts with foreign buyers, 2) shorter lead times and 3) high value added of products. Based on these three criteria, a sample of six cases: three firms that exercised 'more successful‘ SCM strategies and three characterised by 'less successful‘ SCM strategies were selected. Data were analysed using NVivo10 software with a combination of theoretically derived codes and indigenous codes as the coding strategy. Successful SCM strategies and constraints on improving SCM performance were identified based on each factor considered: lead time, value added and direct contacts related. While both macro and micro-environmental factors influence SME performance, the micro-environmental ones (in particular the lack of strategic business thinking, a weak resource base, resistance to business risk and low profit marginal niches) were far more salient. Further to this, the lack of a fabric manufacturing base within Sri Lanka is a common barrier for both 'more‘ and 'less successful‘ companies while company-specific successful strategies and constrains also were evident. The absence of direct contact with foreign buyers is critical for 'less successful‘ companies as it has led these companies to work with intermediaries. Critical supply chain decisions have to be channelled via buying offices, which leave these companies at risk. The findings add to a growing body of literature on the role of international buying offices and their impact on the implementation of SCM strategies‘ by exporting SMEs.

Quick response to natural disasters is vital to reduce loss of and negative impact to human life. The response is more crucial in the presence of sudden-onset, difficult-to-predict natural disasters, especially in the early period of those events. On-site actions are part of such response, some of which are determination of temporary shelters and/ or temporary medical facility locations, the evacuation process of victims and relief distribution to victims. These activities of last-mile disaster logistics are important as they are directly associated with sufferers, the main focus of any alleviation of losses caused by any disaster. This research deals with the last-mile site positioning of relief supplies and medical facilities in response to a sudden-onset, difficult-to-predict disaster event, both dynamically and in a more coordinative way during a particular planning time horizon. Four mathematical models which reflect the situation in Padang Pariaman District after the West Sumatera earthquake were built and tested. The models are all concerned with making decisions in a rolling time horizon manner, but differ in coordinating the operations and in utilization of information about future resource availability. Model I is a basic model representing the current practice with relief distribution and victim evacuation performed separately and decisions made only considering the resources available at the time. Model II considers coordination between the two operations and conducts them with the same means of transport. Model III takes into account future information keeping the two operations separate. Model IV combines the features of Models II and III. The four models are approached both directly and by using various heuristics. The research shows that conducting relief distribution and victim evacuation activities by using shared vehicles and/or by taking into account future information on resource availability improves the current practice . This is clearly demonstrated by the experimental results on small problems. For large problems, experiments show that it is not practical to directly solve the models, especially the last three, and that the solution quality is poor when the solution process is limited to a reasonable time. Experiments also show that the heuristics help improve the solution quality and that the performances of the heuristics are different for different models. When each model is solved using its own best heuristic, the conclusions from results of large problems get very close to those from small problems. Finally, deviation of future information on resource availability is considered in the study, but is shown not to affect the performance of model III and model IV in carrying out relief distribution and victim evacuation. This indicates that it is always worthwhile to take into account the future information, even if the information is not perfect, as long as it is reasonably reliable.

Much has been written about Lean, Agile and Just-in-Time philosophies and how these approaches will improve the efficiency and flow of a product through a supply chain. The UK automotive supply industry is in the main stream using these principles to achieve very demanding requirements from customers for sequential and synchronous delivery of final assembly and component parts. This thesis provides the reader with case study research that identifies the further potential for synchronous supply in the UK automotive industry supply network. Consideration has been made to the effect of synchronous supply beyond the vehicle manufacturer's assembly hall to improve efficiency and effectiveness within the network. The clear position for Tier 0.5 module suppliers and Tier 0 'in-source' suppliers to a vehicle manufacturer was also uniquely identified as actual working practice within the network. The method used was a case study approach using qualitative methods of interview and observation at nine automotive supply chain organisations, eight of which were operating in an actual UK automotive supply network. This followed an initial study used to clarify the thesis research position. Semi-structured interviews were used for the case studies to gain initial empirical research for this thesis and concluded that further empirical research was required in order to determine if synchronous supply would benefit a wider selection of networked suppliers. The main study, in two parts, provided the in-depth case study detail related back through benchmark tables to the literature review to identify the true position for in-sourcing the supplier and the Tier 0 supplier position. Findings confirm the above and state the position for 'Triangles of efficiency' between close knit tiers of the UK automotive supply network. In-source supplier assembly was uniquely identified within this thesis and seen as an opportunity for both the VM and leading suppliers to improve and enhance both their synchronous efficiencies; the VM, by allocating an assembly area to suppliers within their facilities to reduce delivery time and make the assembly process of modules more visible in the supply network; the supplier, by offering a leading Tier 0 position ahead of the business park Tier 0.5 status more commonly understood in automotive supplier networks.

Building upon the exploratory study, this study conducted the main study in order to evaluate the drivers of corporate and supply chain level sustainable performances across the flight catering supply chain, by integrating eight drivers on the basis of corporate legitimacy theories and theoretical foundations underpinning SCM. The main study was conducted by adopting a semi-structured in-depth interview technique. 23 respondents from the companies (i.e. airlines, caterers, logistics companies and suppliers) producing 22 interviews were recruited through a snowball sampling. Then, the main study was analysed with the aid of NVivo. This research has identified corporate environmentally sustainable performances including reducing emissions, conserving natural resources, waste reduction & recycling and packaging. On the other hand, corporate socially sustainable perfom1ances have consisted of: people within the company and people outside the company. It has been found that 'partial influencers', 'external drivers' and 'firm led drivers' lead to corporate sustainable performances with some impacts associated with cost. Whilst firm led drivers have been the main driver, geography has placed some moderating impacts between some of the drivers and sustainable performances. In addition, supply chain level environmentally sustainable performances were concerned with greening the supply chain and product based green supply, whereas spreading socially responsible standards included implementing responsible practices, with human rights issues receiving attention to a lesser extent. The drivers of supply chain level sustainable performances were concerned with: 'supply chain dynamics', 'external factors' and 'cost'. Importantly, cost has been identified not only as a driver but also as a hindrance to both corporate and supply chain level sustainable performances. Building upon empirical findings, this research has made major contributions to understanding the drivers of sustainable performances in three ways: at the corporate and the supply chain level, and effect of cost along the supply chain.

Design promotion takes place when there is a need to inform companies, governments or citizens about the benefits design can offer for economic and social development, and how to take full advantage of them. It can take several forms such as design programmes, support services for businesses and design policies. Although design promotion is practised widely in countries around the world, there is little academic research or background theory to support its advancement. Therefore, this thesis developed an approach to understanding design promotion, its rationale, scope, terminologies, practices and its potential development, through three key studies: (1) a historical review of design promotion; (2) a survey of current practices and their interrelation with economic development; and (3) case studies of design promotion practices in India, Brazil, Korea and Finland. This four-subject sample was then explored in a comparative analysis, which addressed the main objective of this research: the investigation of design promotion strategies in countries at different stages of economic development. Through grounded theory, a seven-category framework emerged from data to guide the comparative analysis. In the conclusions drawn by this research, significant differences were identified between advanced economies (represented by Korea and Finland) and developing countries (represented by India and Brazil) in four of the categories: rationale; design policy; national design system; and national context. In the other three categories (design programmes; design education; and professional design sector), differences were identified in the individual countries, but there was no evidence to support any generalisation that would characterise contrasting approaches at different stages of economic development. Following the investigation of the individual categories, this research examined their interrelation, which resulted in the recommendation of avenues for further research in the field of design promotion, such as the investigation of systemic failures in national design systems, and the political and economic factors that affect the implementation of national design policies.

The aim of this research project was to identify ways of reducing the costs of the distribution of grocery products to the poor in Brazil. Through the analysis of the cost structure of grocery supply chains from the raw material stage to the consumer purchase through the manufacturer and distributors, the most relevant factors driven their total cost were recognised and then compared. Supply chains of UK and Brazil were the focus of the analysis. The British products whose cost structure were analysed had their intrinsic quality also evaluated by a consumer test that gave not only the respondent's preference for an individual product but also the utility of competing brands at different price levels, thus indicating the consumer's willingness to switch from one product to the other at the actual price level of the tested options. The analysis of the cost structures in UK showed that the major source of variation in consumer price to be the internal cost structure of manufacturers. The essential costs to produce products competing in the same product categories varied far less than the variance in the manufacturer's transfer price to the retailer. Other costs such as advertising, overhead and the profit for leading brand manufacturers were much higher than for own label manufacturers. The cost added by retailer to leading brand and to own label differed but 0\\10 label products were often the most profitable for the retailer. Complementary, the consumer test results demonstrated that consumers do not always get better value for money by buying branded products and that buying decision based only on the intrinsic product quality would favoured the cheap own label rather than the leading brands. The product quality of own label associated with its price advantage are enough to consumer switch branded to own label. The cost structure analysis of the Brazilian supply chains found similar results of those of the UK. That is the difference in consumer price for competing brands is not justified by differences in the essential costs to manufacture and delivery them, but by the advertising, overhead and profit of supply chain members. Taxes was another very important 'cost', representing in Brazil a large proportion of the consumer price. In some cases taxes were the largest layer in the cost structure. This research concluded that the consumer is paying a premium for leading brand that relies exclusively on brand image for value for money. The manufacturers' brand equity is based too often on marketing initiatives that, rationally, do not add value to the product, only cost. This research findings are very significant to the supply chain management theory. Interface costs were demonstrated to be relevant to the total cost of the supply chain, but when compared with the magnitude of the total cost variation between supply chains, it became clear that there are other costs that could be cut to produce more significant cost reductions and then be the major focus of this branch of the management knowledge. More generally, supply chain management as a subject area is clearly too narrow its scope, one to often limited to the study of interface costs in the supply chain rather than the broader issues identified in this thesis.

This research investigates the strategic features of supply chain relationships of foreign subsidiary companies. Previous research simply viewed operational strategy or the decisions of subsidiary companies as devices to implement higher level strategies or as action plans to be implemented. However, growing emphasis on the strategic importance of 'subsidiary companies' and 'supply chain management' suggests a unique opportunity to extend a fundamental debate in strategy formation, whether to see strategy as a design or a process, to the area of operational strategy. To investigate these strategic features, three key themes are adopted from the literature of strategy formation, namely strategic determinants, strategic fit and emergent strategy. Pilot interviews, cross-sectional mail survey, and retrospective company case studies were sequentially carried out with Korean subsidiary companies in China to investigate their relevance. The findings highlight the fact that supply chain relationship of foreign subsidiary companies needs to be viewed as a ''process'' rather than simply as action plans to be implemented. More specifically, the Korean subsidiary companies were not positive initiators of relationship development with respect to either inside or outside normative strategic factors. Rather, the research highlighted the importance of inter-organizational factors based on previous relationships and transactional experience. Managerial integration between the parent· and the subsidiary company mediates the strategic fit between the resource-seeking strategy of a parent company and the density of supply chain relationships established by subsidiary companies. The subsidiary companies decided on an emergent basis, especially when they do not have enough information to judge the willingness and competence of suppliers, and when they are subject to both inter-organizational influences from the parent company and institutional factors within the host country.

In recent years, the UK construction industry has been showing a growing interest in the principles and practice of supply chain collaboration. Despite of some similarities with other sectors, where supply chain management is widely adopted, construction . supply chains have some specific characteristics, such as their diversity and fluidity. A number of construction supply chain relationship models have been proposed by various existing studies. However, there are some obvious deficiencies with these exiting models, such as the incomplete coverage of key areas, the inappropriate definition of maturity levels, and the lack of proper assessment procedures. This highlights the need for a new systematic framework to assess the supply chain relationships in the construction industry. This research aims at developing a systematic framework for assessing construction supply chain relationships based on the general capability maturity model methodology. It adopts a focused approach by concentrating on in-depth assessment for individual relationships in a construction supply chain, instead of a holistic approach for the whole supply chain. The developed framework specifies 8 main criteria and 24 sub-criteria, through which a supply chain relationship will be measured. It also defines detailed descriptions for each criterion at 4 different maturity levels. Three methods are proposed, outlining relevant procedures of different levels of assessment in practice. The framework is developed based on a comprehensive review of existing studies and empirical work in the form of expert group discussion and questionnaire survey. It is evaluated through a role play worksh~p, expert interviews and case studies. By using this framework, construction organisations and project teams can position their current relationship on the maturity matrix and identify key areas for the future relationship improvement.

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