Thesis (M. Eng. in Logistics)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 84-91). / Humanitarian relief supply chains are not well documented. This thesis describes humanitarian relief supply chains in general and those specifically utilized in the 2004 South East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami relief effort. A survey, created in collaboration with the Fritz Institute and KPMG, informed the analysis and establishes baseline data for a sector with little formal measurement. It was found that relief organizations share common problems regardless of size, focus, or structure. While the survey determined that relief delivery was effective, the findings illuminated deficiencies in the following areas: initial assessment, collaboration, trained logistics experts, and supply chain analysis. Finally, the thesis suggests plans to address these issues and future research. / by Timothy Edward Russell. / M.Eng.in Logistics

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2007. / This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 176-189). / Limiting anthropogenic climate change over the next century will require controlling multiple substances. The Kyoto Protocol structure constrains the major greenhouse gases and allows trading among them, but there exist other possible regime architectures which may be more efficient. Tradeoffs between the market efficiency of all-inclusive policies and the benefits of policies targeted to the unique characteristics of each substance are investigated using an integrated assessment approach, using the MIT Emissions Prediction and Policy Analysis model, the Integrated Global Systems Model, and political analysis methods. The thesis explores three cases. The first case addresses stabilization, the ultimate objective of Article 2 of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. We highlight the implications of imprecision in the definition of stabilization, the importance of non-CO2 substances, and the problems of excessive focus on long-term targets. The results of the stabilization analysis suggest that methane reduction will be especially valuable because of its importance in low-cost mitigation policies that are effective on timescales up to three centuries. Therefore in the second case we examine methane, demonstrating that methane constraints alone can account for a 15% reduction in temperature rise over the 21st century. / (cont.) In contrast to conventional wisdom, we show that Global Warming Potential based trading between methane reductions and fossil CO2 reductions is flawed because of the differences in their atmospheric characteristics, the uncertainty in methane inventories, the negative interactions of CO2 constraints with underlying taxes, and higher political barriers to constraining CO2. The third case examines the benefits of increased policy coordination between air pollution constraints and climate policies. We calculate the direct effects of air pollution constraints to be less than 8% of temperature rise over the century, but ancillary reductions of GHGs lead to an additional 17% decrease. Furthermore, current policies have not had success coordinating air pollution constraints and CO2 constraints, potentially leading to a 20% welfare cost penalty resulting from separate implementation. Our results lead us to recommend enacting near term multinational CH4 constraints independently from CO2 policies as well as supporting air pollution policies in developing nations that include an emphasis on climate friendly projects. / by Marcus C. Sarofim. / Ph.D.

Thesis (M. Eng. in Logistics)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2013. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 69-70). / Continuous increases in transportation costs on one hand and companies' desire to reduce inventories and receiving costs on the other hand, have been forcing shippers to come up with innovative ways in tackling these two conflicting goals. One of these innovations is horizontal transportation collaboration. Horizontal transportation collaboration is the act of consolidation of shipments across several firms. This collaboration opens up the opportunity for companies to take advantage of the synergies that may exist in their supply chain networks. Such collaborations can be orchestrated through a 3PL or by the companies themselves via a Do-It- Yourself (DIY) approach. Collaboration can be active or passive. Active collaboration is when shippers plan their shipments with the goal of consolidation. Passive collaboration is purely opportunistic and takes advantage of synergies if and when they occur. The focus of this thesis is passive DIY collaboration. This research provides a practical guideline for companies who intend to engage in DIY collaboration with other firms. It addresses how to qualify potential collaboration partners, how to evaluate the associated savings, and finally, how to make it work. As a part of this thesis the actual data from six shippers were analyzed and the potential savings were calculated. The analysis included multi-stop truckload (MSTL) consolidation and pool point distribution. / by Homayoun Taherian. / M.Eng.in Logistics

Thesis (M. Eng. in Logistics)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 81). / The objective of this thesis is to define an optimal distribution network for Argentina using Cross Docking Centers. The products to be delivered are in a Central Warehouse in Buenos Aires, the main city and port of Argentina. These products have to be distributed to hundreds of locations in the interior of the country. These locations have lower levels of demand and are at great distance from Buenos Aires. In order to achieve efficient distribution, cross docking centers and a third party carrier distribution are utilized. To find the optimal number, size and location of cross docking centers and which cross docking center or carrier should supply each location, two models are developed. The first model is a location-allocation model in which capacities of the cross docking centers are not considered constraining. In this case, the model is complemented by a heuristic approach that is used to find a near-optimal feasible solution. The second model, a capacited location model, is more complex, taking into account the demands of each location and defining the optimal location of cross docking centers and their respective capacities. Both models are analyzed with the data representing the distribution of pharmaceutical products in Argentina in 1999. The models' solution generates savings of 5%, compared to the current network that was designed based on intuition and other external factors, without the use of an optimization tool. / by Fernando G. Dobrusky. / M.Eng.in Logistics

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2012. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 230-234). / Under a charter from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the author participated in a study of the military's behavioral health system for the purpose of determining the means and effectiveness of that system for the treatment of PTSD and related conditions. This work focuses on the architecture and means of control over the existing arrangement of semi-independent enterprises, organized into functional work groups that necessarily collaborate to provide a full spectrum of behavioral health services to service members and their families. The author suggests a rearrangement of the system architecture to enable integrated work across organizational boundaries in order to reduce waste generated through structural inefficiencies. Implementation of network architecture and control relies heavily on the development of shared strategic objectives that direct network processes in supporting overall organizational goals. Further, performance measurement systems and stakeholder behavior change through use of incentives are used as the drivers of inter-enterprise process development. Finally, a governance structure, focused on development of integrative processes and outcomes is established to foster inter-organizational relationships, direct process improvement, and resolve system conflicts. / by Shane P. Scott. / S.M.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2009. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. Vita. / Includes bibliographical references (v. 4, p. 698-745). / This dissertation contributes toward the building of a theory of the evolution of business ecosystems. In the process, it addresses a question that has been posed by evolutionary theorists in the economics and sociology literatures for decades: "Why do firms in the same industry vary systematically in performance over time?" Seeking a systematic explanation of a longitudinal phenomenon inevitably requires characterizing the evolution of the industrial ecosystem, as both the organization (firm) and its environment (industry, markets and institutions) are co-evolving. This question is therefore explored via a theoretical sample in three industrial ecosystems covering manufacturing and service sectors, with competitors from the US, Europe and Japan: commercial airplanes, motor vehicles and airlines. The research is based primarily on an in depth seven-year, multi-level, multi-method, field-based case study of both firms in the large commercial airplanes industry mixed duopoly as well as the key stakeholders in their extended enterprises (i.e. customers, suppliers, investors and employees). This field work is supplemented with historical comparative analysis in all three industries, as well as nonlinear dynamic simulation models developed to capture the essential mechanisms governing the evolution of business ecosystems. / (cont.) A theoretical framework is developed which endogenously traces the co-evolution of firms and their industrial environments using their highest-level system properties of form, function and fitness (as reflected in the system sciences of morphology, physiology and ecology), and which embraces the evolutionary processes of variation, selection and retention. The framework captures the path-dependent evolution of heterogeneous populations of enterprise architectures engaged in symbiotic inter-species competition and posits the evolution of dominant designs in enterprise architectures that oscillate deterministically and chaotically between modular and integral states throughout an industry's life-cycle. Architectural innovation - at the extended enterprise level - is demonstrated to contribute to the failure of established firms, with causal mechanisms developed to explain tipping points. / by Theodore F. Piepenbrock. / Ph.D.

Thesis (M. Eng. in Logistics)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references. / This paper investigates one specific portion of the supply chain between a semiconductor manufacturer and one of its major customers. The purpose is to dive deeply into one particular segment of the logistical process between these two entities--namely, the function of transport and storage of microprocessors after semiconductor fabrication facilities and before placement of those microprocessors into products at the customer site--to determine whether there exists a value proposition for implementing Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology in this process. Specifically, the current process was observed and recorded; then two possible amendments to that process are promulgated and discussed--one which implements box-level traceability (BLT) and one which implements unit-level traceability (ULT). The proposed processes attempt to maintain as strict an adherence as possible to the nature and needs of the current process since the purpose of the study is to determine whether RFID technology alone, independent of major software or process revision, can benefit this portion of the supply chain. Observations and learnings at both BLT and ULT are discussed as well as key learnings for the effectiveness of RFID within this particular process. / by Dennis Allen Duckworth. / M.Eng.in Logistics

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2010. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 154-163). / Motivation -- Industrial firms survive, sustain and co-evolve by participating in the sector of innovation and production through industrial transactions with each other. However, it is difficult for specialized firms to be aware of and manage accordingly the kind of systemic constraints and opportunities induced by relevant but indirect transactions, as well as the technological and economic requirements of their value chains, which they cannot control or even sufficiently observe. The myopia may cause specialized firms to implement incorrect strategies, leave them vulnerable to system failures or ignorant of emerging opportunities. This implies a paradox: the simultaneous needs to specialize and to understand and manage the big picture of the eco-system. Goal -- Previous industry studies have focused on the question if a transaction with an external firm is needed rather than in-house production, and on empirical work from single industries or bilateral relationships between firms. Meanwhile, the firms' positions in the sectoral transactional network are also influential to the success and performance of firms. In this dissertation, I conduct transactional network analysis to explore how firms are organized in the sector of aggregated industries, in order to shed light on the set of previously ignored knowledge on industrial transactions, which is valuable to single firms in designing strategies and managing operations but is not available from firm- and industry-level analysis. Hierarchy in Industry Architecture -- At the sector level, existing theories often assumed hierarchical or non-hierarchical relationships among industrial firms, and quantitative evidence on variable degrees of hierarchy in industry sectors is lacking. This dissertation first identifies and defines the type of hierarchy relevant to industry studies -flow hierarchy, develops a network-based metric on the degree of hierarchy (one-way flow of transactions), and applies it to the transaction data from two industrial sectors in Japan. The empirical results show that the electronics sector exhibits a significantly lower degree of hierarchy than the automotive sector due to the presence of many transaction cycles. It shows that the simplistic hierarchy hypothesis for production sectors does not always hold. Industrial Network Model and Transaction Specificity -- I further create a network simulation model with random networks to relate sector-level hierarchy degrees to firm-level behavioral variables, and infer transaction specificity, i.e. the extent to which a firm is captive to a niche of customers positioned closely in the industrial network hierarchy. The model builds on three basic rules on market structures, i.e. hierarchy, niche, and the mapping relationship between roles and positions. Transaction specificity provides a way to quantify the tendency of a firm to fix or institutionalize its role according to its relative network position, or where the transactions of a firm are oriented in the value chains, whereas traditional studies analyze whether a transaction versus in-house production is needed. The result shows that transaction specificity in the electronics sector is quantitatively much lower than that in the automotive sector. Interviews and Firm Boundary Strategies -- I further conducted interviews with nine firms in the two sectors and found that, with decision rationales related to product modularity, innovation dynamics and asset specificity, the major electronics firms take the permeable vertical boundary strategy and diversified horizontal boundary strategy, which decrease transaction specificity so that many transaction cycles emerge in the electronics sector. My analysis shows the permeability of a firm's vertical boundary, i.e. playing multiple value chain roles, is the necessary condition for transaction cycles to emerge. Meanwhile, these two strategies are not feasible in the automotive sector according to interviews. They are also not observed in the American electronics sector. My data show the American electronics firms tend to be vertically specialized in the value chains. Social-Technical Arguments -- Linking network analysis results, interview data, and the prior work on the physical limits to product modularity, I argue that higher power level of a sector's technologies leads to higher transaction specificity, and more hierarchical transaction lows across the sector. High power technologies constrain strategic transaction choices, while lower power technologies enable a larger option space of transaction strategies, for companies to explore and exploit. Implications -- For academics, the use of network analysis permits transaction cost analysis, or more general analysis of transaction-related decisions, to be extended from the boundary of a firm to the architecture of a sector comprising related industries. It gives us a bird's-eye view to observe firm-level transaction behaviors and create new knowledge on transaction specificity. In addition, the analysis of the physical properties of product technologies allows us to interpret the difference in transaction specificities and hierarchy degrees of different sectors, which economic and sociology theories cannot explain. For industry practitioners, this research suggests that firms' choices for industrial transactions are under some predictable constraints from product technologies. A better understanding of the linkages between industry architecture, firm transaction strategy, and product technology, in turn can guide companies to tailor transaction strategies to implicit technological constraints and to adequately explore strategic options made feasible by technologies. / by Jianxi Luo. / Ph.D.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2012. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 69-71). / Software product management within Software as a Service is key domain of interest given the recent advances in Cloud Computing. This thesis explores the product management challenges within this domain. It makes a contribution to understanding how factors such as architecture, customer experience measurement, customer driven feature prioritization, editorial action of product manager and development process affect product success in the SaaS domain. SaaS product management dictates different priorities from traditional software and product managers and organizations must adapt to these changes to innovate. / by Karthikeyan Rajasekharan. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M. in Technology and Policy)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2013. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 111-122). / As the number of vehicles in China has relentlessly grown in the past decade, the energy demand, fuel demand and greenhouse gas emissions associated with these vehicles have kept pace. This thesis presents a model to project future energy demand, fuel demand and carbon dioxide emissions for the Chinese light duty vehicle fleet. Results indicate that China can offset rapid vehicle energy demand growth with reductions in fuel consumption and new vehicle technologies. These reference scenario results indicate that future light duty vehicle energy demand and carbon dioxide emissions will peak below 400 mtoe and 1700 mmt carbon dioxide, respectively. In addition, a scenario based sensitivity analysis reveals that vehicle stock, vehicle fuel consumption and vehicle fleet electrification are the most significant drivers in determining future light duty vehicle energy demand, fuel demand and carbon dioxide emissions. The Chinese government is concerned with these trends. In a complementary analysis, I investigate existing government policy strategies that may affect future automotive energy demand. I find that policy strategies are fairly well aligned with the significant drivers to reduce automotive energy demand. However, I also find that national government policies are often not implemented as intended at the local government level. Finally, I analyze current domestic and joint venture brand vehicle technology, where I find that domestic car technology lags joint venture car technology. / by Ingrid Gudrun Bonde Åkerlind. / S.M.in Technology and Policy