M.Comm. / The demand for products which are distributed through pipelines has increased worldwide over the last decade. These increases in demand have irrevocably impacted upon top management’s perceptions of risks associated with energy pipeline supply chains. Even in South Africa, the increase in demand for products such as diesel, jet fuel and petrol, which are supplied through the energy pipeline supply chains have increased the risks associated with energy pipeline supply chains. This study explores the different risks associated with South African energy pipelines, and investigates whether these risks can have an influence on the business as well as the physical environment of the energy pipeline supply chains. A literature study was conducted and three energy pipeline supply organisations surveyed to determine what their specific viewpoints were regarding the risks faced by the South African energy pipeline supply chains.

Commodity trading at both domestic and international levels involves many sources of supply chain risk and uncertainty. Risk management techniques are utilized by industry participants; however, there are unknown risks that can arise throughout the supply chain making effective risk management a difficult task. This study aims to address supply chain risk in soybean exports. A framework is created for a competitive bidding environment in which firms participate in an international import tender. Monte Carlo simulation is used to represent stochastic variables and derive an optimal bid under various scenarios. Sensitivity analysis is then conducted to measure the impact of key input variables on the output values. An alternative specification for risk management is also implemented into the framework. This study provides insight into supply chain uncertainty and incorporates that into a competitive bidding framework for optimal bid derivation and effective risk management.

This dissertation consists of three interrelated studies focusing on the use of business-to-business (B2B) electronic commerce (e-commerce) to facilitate supply chain transactions. B2B e-commerce enabled supply chains produce substantial savings for organizations by reducing the amount of time and money necessary to negotiate contracts, processes orders, and pay suppliers. However, doubt exists as to whether reduced transaction costs are a sustainable competitive advantage for organizations. The advent of widespread and cost effective B2B e-commerce enabled supply chains coupled with increasingly complex, dynamic, and global competitive markets are encouraging organizations to form long-term relationships with their trading partners to achieve sustainable competitive advantage from improved supply chain performance. Competition is no longer restricted to large firms and end-product producers, but now encompasses the extended organizational supply chain. Using three separate, but related theories, these studies investigate 1) the factors affecting satisfaction with B2B ecommerce trading relationships, 2) the antecedents and effects of risk and trust on assurance desirability in B2B e-commerce partnerships, and 3) the impact of enterprise risk management procedures on the achievement of sustainable competitive advantage from B2B e-commerce enabled transnational alliances. Critical to achieving sustainable competitive advantage from B2B e-commerce capabilities is the existence of long-term mutually satisfying buyer—supplier iii relationships. The first study examines the antecedents of relationship satisfaction between B2B e-commerce trading partners. Using the relational view of the firm, a theoretical model is developed to investigate the direct and countervailing effects of trust and risk on relationship satisfaction. In addition, the indirect effects of justice and commitment on relationship satisfaction are also investigated. A field survey is used to collect data from 205 industry professionals concerning B2B e-commerce trading partnerships. Structural equation modeling is used to evaluate the hypothesized model relationships. The results support all hypotheses and indicate good model fit with strong explanatory power. This study contributes to the accounting information systems and strategic management literature by investigating the interactive but independent roles of risk and trust within B2B e-commerce trading relationships. The second study examines the integrative effects of power, risk, and trust, along with their antecedents, on the desirability of assurance over a trading partner’s ecommerce processes. Using the resource advantage theory of competition as a foundation, a research model is developed to examine the relationships among the various trading partners and organizational factors that drive demand for a high information governance structure such as assurance. A field survey is used to collect data from 205 industry professionals to enable the evaluation of the complex relationships in the overall research model using structural equation modeling. The results support all hypotheses and provide good model fit, strong explanatory power, and strong support for the theory. This study expands the literature on management control systems within interorganizational relationships by addressing three contemporary concerns in the literature: (1) the minimal consideration of the impact of information technology in these iv relationships, (2) the minimal consideration of the impact of variances in the relative power of the trading partners, and (3) the need to consider the dual influence of risk and trust. Globalization places greater emphasis on the development of transnational alliances. The greatest benefits from alliances are derived from high-level information sharing, but risk escalates with information sharing. The purpose of the third study is to examine the influence of enterprise risk management (ERM) on risk and trust associated with transnational alliances and the resulting impact on interorganizational information sharing. Survey data is gathered from 200 senior-level managers monitoring transnational alliances. Structural equation modeling is used to test the hypothesized relationships. The results provide strong support for the hypothesized relationships and the overall research model, showing that high ERM leads to decreased risk, increased trust, and improved information sharing.

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No description available.

The objectives of this research were to present an original formulation of a significant facilities location problem, the traveling salesman location problem, and to develop several heuristic solution procedures for determining minimum distance locations. Despite the wide applicability of the traveling salesman location problem, a survey of the facilities location literature revealed that this research effort apparently was the first to address the problem. After mathematically formulating the problem, several rather simple example problems were investigated in order to gain some insight regarding the behavior of the function under a variety of different conditions. Many of the results stemming from the study of the simple examples were counter-intuitive. Additionally, it was demonstrated that even for problems involving only a few existing facilities the resulting objective function is non-convex. Due to the non-convexity of the objective function and the overwhelming combinatorics involved with just one functional evaluation, it was desired that the solution procedures developed be capable of obtaining near optimal solutions in the shortest time possible. One of the solution techniques proposed, Procedure 2, was based on the Successive Quadratic Approximation Procedure. This procedure was selected for two reasons: 1) It was expected that the procedure would yield minimum solutions to large problems rather quickly, and 2) It was hoped that by approximating the function over the entire solution space, the procedure would tend to overlook local minimum points, and instead, find a global minimum point. It was demonstrated that while Procedure 2 is capable of obtaining optimal solutions, it does not immediately recognize a particular solution as being optimal. The other procedure proposed, Procedure 1, based on a relationship between the Steiner-Weber problem and the traveling salesman location problem, was selected because of its ability to immediately recognize a particular solution as being a local minimum point. At each iteration Procedure 1 required the solution of a Steiner-Weber problem as well as solutions to the "string" of traveling salesman problems. The Steiner-Weber problems were solved through the use of the Hyperbolic Approximation Procedure. It was verified that both procedures are capable of obtaining optimal solutions by applying each procedure to several of the example problems. The effectiveness of each procedure in finding minimum distance solutions was determined by applying each procedure to a number of randomly generated problems, and then comparing the resulting execution times and minimum distance solutions. A difference of two percent or more between the minimum distance solutions obtained for a given problem was considered to be significant. Problems involving 4, 6, 8, 10, and 11 existing facilities were solved. No attempts were made to solve larger problems due to the excessively long execution times required. On the basis of the computational results obtained, it was concluded that 1) There is no significant difference between Procedures 1 and 2 for problems involving four existing facilities. 2) For about 15 to 20 percent of the problems involving 6, 8, 10, or 11 existing facilities, Procedure 1 performs better than Procedure 2. By examining the mean execution times for each procedure, it was found that there was little significant difference between the two procedures until rather large problems were solved. Procedure 2 required relatively shorter execution times than Procedure 1 for problems involving 10 or 11 existing facilities. However, the reduction in execution time for Procedure 2 occurred at a point where it was considered economically infeasible to continue to examine larger problems. The length of execution times for larger problems can probably be reduced by: 1) Eliminating the need to evaluate all traveling salesman problems by setting many of the PhiS, the subset probabilities, equal to zero, and 2) Replacing the branch and bound algorithm for solving traveling salesman problems with one of the more effective heuristic procedures that have been developed. / Master of Science

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Huang Hongyan. / "February 2002." / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 134-142). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese.

Cheung, Kwan Wing. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 115-124). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / Acknowledgement --- p.v / Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Motivation --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Contributions --- p.7 / Chapter 1.3 --- Findings --- p.8 / Chapter 1.4 --- Structure of the Thesis --- p.10 / Chapter 2 --- Beer Logistics in China --- p.12 / Chapter 2.1 --- The Logistics and Supply Chain in China --- p.12 / Chapter 2.2 --- Beer in China --- p.22 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- The Expanding Market --- p.22 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- The Multi-tiered Supply Chain --- p.22 / Chapter 2.2.3 --- Reverse Logistics --- p.25 / Chapter 2.2.4 --- Manual Demand and Inventory Manage- ment --- p.26 / Chapter 2.2.5 --- Retail Fees and Value Chains --- p.28 / Chapter 2.2.6 --- Packaging --- p.30 / Chapter 2.3 --- The Wholesaler --- p.31 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- High Service Quality under Fierce Com- petition --- p.31 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- Use of Vans --- p.33 / Chapter 2.3.3 --- Delivery Problem of Wholesalers --- p.35 / Chapter 3 --- Literature Review --- p.37 / Chapter 3.1 --- Beer Logistics in China --- p.37 / Chapter 3.2 --- Modelling Delivery Problems --- p.39 / Chapter 3.3 --- Applications of the Vehicle Routing Problem --- p.42 / Chapter 3.4 --- Heuristics and Metaheuristics --- p.43 / Chapter 3.5 --- Round up --- p.45 / Chapter 4 --- Problem Definition --- p.48 / Chapter 4.1 --- Problem Definition --- p.48 / Chapter 4.2 --- Assumptions --- p.53 / Chapter 5 --- Problem Formulation --- p.55 / Chapter 5.1 --- Introduction --- p.55 / Chapter 5.2 --- Notations --- p.58 / Chapter 5.2.1 --- Indices --- p.58 / Chapter 5.2.2 --- Parameters --- p.58 / Chapter 5.2.3 --- Decision Variables --- p.59 / Chapter 5.3 --- Mixed Integer Programming Model --- p.60 / Chapter 5.3.1 --- The Model --- p.60 / Chapter 5.3.2 --- Descriptions --- p.61 / Chapter 5.3.3 --- Complexity and Polynomial Number of Con- straints --- p.66 / Chapter 6 --- Solution Methodology --- p.69 / Chapter 6.1 --- Input Parameters --- p.69 / Chapter 6.2 --- Finding the Optimal Solution --- p.70 / Chapter 6.2.1 --- By CPLEX Optimization Package --- p.70 / Chapter 6.2.2 --- Problems of Using Optimization Packages --- p.72 / Chapter 6.2.3 --- Observations of Some Optimal Solutions --- p.74 / Chapter 6.3 --- Heuristics Development --- p.77 / Chapter 6.3.1 --- Solution Strategies --- p.77 / Chapter 6.3.2 --- Evaluation of the Strategy Combinations --- p.84 / Chapter 6.3.3 --- Best Combinations --- p.90 / Chapter 6.3.4 --- Final Heuristic --- p.92 / Chapter 7 --- Computational Results --- p.94 / Chapter 7.1 --- Methodology --- p.94 / Chapter 7.2 --- Results of Using the Final Heuristic --- p.95 / Chapter 7.3 --- Computational Time --- p.99 / Chapter 8 --- Managerial Insights --- p.102 / Chapter 8.1 --- Practical Issues --- p.102 / Chapter 8.2 --- Managerial Insights --- p.105 / Chapter 9 --- Future Work and Conclusion --- p.109 / Chapter 9.1 --- Future Work --- p.109 / Chapter 9.2 --- Conclusion --- p.112 / Bibliography --- p.115

Thesis (doctoral) - Otto Beisheim School of Management, Vallendar, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [271]-309).