Abstract When multinational enterprise invested into the worldwide with its huge economic scale, well-organized structure and excellent skill of Supply Chain Management were used as competed resources in the global economic environment. It helps business growing and profit increasing. However, a capable skill of Supply Chain Management relay on a precise Procurement Management System, especially the ability of evaluation and management. The purposes of this study are to discover the key factors for the multinational enterprise evaluated suppliers, summarize those key factors and offer a bunch mark as reference for the Taiwanese enterprise. To be a top supplier of those multinational enterprise not only bring the rich profit, strong business foundation and fast growing, but also got a very good learning chance to become a multinational enterprise. This research discovered several important factors when a multinational enterprise evaluated their suppliers; 1.Technical Skill - Suppliers own a Research and Development team. 2. Quality - Certifications is necessary. 3. Feed Back and Service - Customer requirements response within 24 hours. 4. Delivery - Reduce the lead-time of delivery products. 5. Cost - Reduce the cost from the product re-design. 6. Environment Protection - Products contain environment protection concept. 7. Business Management - Supply the products steadily. 8. Globalization - Globalization of supply services. 9. Politics and Culture - Steady politics and diligent people.

<p>The idea that the private sector can play an important partin the financing and creation of built assets and thesubsequent operation of public services has gained ground overthe last decade. This development has contributed to the risein public-private partnership (PPP) projects in many countriesand within many areas in the public sector. From theconstruction perspective, these projects are usually creditedas providing real incentives for the actors involved, as wellas creating a business environment that is conducive toinnovation and improved practices, especially in theconstruction phase. This thesis examines the validity of thesestatements in the context of the PPP procurement route and theextent to which the actors involved in the design andconstruction phases are presented with, and able to exploit,opportunities for technological innovation. A multiple- casestudy approach was adopted for the empirical part of theresearch. Four major projects, containing significantconstruction work and completed between 1997 and 2002, werestudied: three in the UK and one in Sweden. Project personnel–the principal actors in the design and constructionphases–were interviewed at length. Within the findingsthere is evidence that the existence of certain conditions onprojects, and particular actions arising in relation thereto,can lead to a marked propensity towards innovative behaviour.The conclusion is reached that it is possible to implementtechnological innovations successfully on PPP projects, butthat there is reason to be cautious in promoting thisprocurement route as a prescription for success in theconstruction sector. There are inhibitors in the process thathave the potential to limit the amount of innovation achievedon a project. The thesis discusses this matter and identifiesthree key areas–communication and information, achievingtransparency in the applied framework and risk management–in which actions could be taken in order to improve theprospects for realising technological innovation on PPPprojects.</p><p><b>Keywords:</b>Public-private partnerships, technologicalinnovation, construction procurement, project management,risk</p>

Thesis (M.S.N.)--Marshall University, 2003. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains iv, 56 p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 43-45).

Bakgrund: Intresset för processer och framförallt utveckling eller förbättring av processer har på senare år ökat. Detta kan ha sin grund i att många företag har behållit föråldrade rutiner och processteg samtidigt som verksamheten utvecklats, något som resulterat i onödigt komplexa processer som påverkat företags ekonomiska och praktiska prestationer. En annan orsak kan vara att företagsklimatet blivit allt tuffare. En process som under senare år fått ökat intresse inom företagvärlden samt kommer sätta stor prägel på denna uppsats är materialanskaffningsprocessen. Materialanskaffning beskrivs som en process innefattande samtliga de aktiviteter som krävs för att säkerställa att material tillförs en organisation. Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är inledningsvis att kartlägga samt identifiera brister i Holtabs materialanskaffningsprocess. Vidare är syftet att komma med eventuella förslag till hur Holtab kan reducera kvalitetsbristerna i materialanskaffningsprocessen för att på så sätt minska företagets kvalitetsbristkostnader. Metod: Denna uppsats är en fallstudie på Holtab AB. Studiens metod är i huvudsak kvalitativ med kvantitativa inslag. Uppsatsen har vidtagit en deduktiv forskningsansats med ett positivistiskt synsätt. Det empiriska materialet samlades in genom semi-strukturerade och ostrukturerade intervjuer samt en kvalitetscirkel. Vidare har uppsatsens teoretiska referensram baseras på litterära källor samt vetenskapliga artiklar. Slutsatser: Holtabs materialanskaffningsprocess har beskrivits genom en processkartläggning. Vidare har författarna identifierat materialanskaffningsprocessens kvalitetsbristkostnader samt dess orsaker. Avslutningsvis har författarna tillsammans med medarbetare på Holtab AB tagit fram förbättringsförslag till de brister som identifierats. / Background: In the recent years, the interest of processes and especially the development or improvement of processes has increased. This may be because many companies have kept obsolete routines and process steps while the businesses have developed. As a result the processes have become unnecessarily complex and affect the companies’ financial and operational performance. Another reason may be that the business environment has become tougher. A process that in the recent years has received an increased interest in the business world and will put its mark on this essay is the material procurement process. Material procurement is described as a process including all activities necessary to ensure that all the required material is supplied to an organization.  Purpose: The purpose of this essay is initially the map and identifies poor quality in Holtabs material procurement process. Further the purpose is to present suggestions on how Holtab can reduce their poor quality in order to reduce the company’s cost of poor quality. Method: The following essay is a case study on Holtab AB. The study is mainly performed in the form of a qualitative study which is supplemented by some quantitative elements. The study emanated from a deductive standpoint with a positivistic approach. The empirical data were collected by the usage of semi-structured and unstructured interviews as well as a quality circle. Further the theoretical framework was collected by literature and scientific articles.   Conclusions: Holtabs material procurement process have been defined and mapped through process mapping. Furthermore have the authors identified cost of quality deficiencies and the causes behind said deficiencies. Finally the authors have derived and presented suggestions for improving Holtabs material procurement process by reducing the quality deficiencies and therefore the related costs.

Supplier selection and order allocation are significant decisions for a manufacturer to ensure stable material flows in a highly competitive supply chain, in particular when customers are willing to accept products with less desirable product attributes. Hence, this study develops efficient methodologies to solve optimally the integrated supplier selection and order allocation problem incorporating customer flexibility for a manufacturer producing multiple products over a multi-period planning horizon. In this research, a new fuzzy multi-attribute approach is proposed to evaluate customer flexibility which is characterized through range and response. The approach calculates the product’s general utility value. This value is used by a bi-variant function which is developed to determine the retail price for the product. A new mixed integer program model describing the behavior of the basic problem is firstly developed. This basic model is the first to jointly determine: 1) type and quantity of the product variants to be offered; 2) the suppliers to be selected and orders to be allocated; and 3) inventory levels of product variants and raw materials/components. The objective is to maximize the manufacturer’s total profit subject to various operating constraints. This basic problem constitutes a very complex combinatorial optimization problem that is Nondeterministic Polynomial (NP)-hard. To tackle this challenge, two new optimization algorithms, i.e., an improved genetic approach called king GA (KGA) and an innovative hybrid algorithm called (CP-SA) _I which combines the techniques of constraint programming and simulated annealing are developed to locate optimal solutions. Extensive computational experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of these algorithms and also show clearly that (CP-SA) _I outperforms KGA in terms of both solution quality and computational cost. To examine the influence of subcontracting as one widespread practice in modern production management, this study also develops a modified mathematical model. It shares some similarity with the basic model but brings additional complexity by taking into consideration subcontractors for inter-mediate components and machine capacity. Since (CP-SA) _I outperforms KGA, it is employed and modified to solve the modified problem. Hence, this study presents a new hybrid algorithm called (CP-SA) _II, to locate optimal solutions. This study also establishes a new parallel (CP-SA) _II algorithm to enhance the performance of (CP-SA) _II. This parallel algorithm is implemented on a distributed computing platform based on the contemporary Graphic Processing Unit (GPU) using the Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) programming model. Extensive numerical experiments conducted clearly demonstrate that the parallel (CP-SA) _II algorithm and its serial counterpart are efficient and robust optimization tools for formulating integrated supplier selection and order allocation decisions. Sensitivity analysis is employed to study the effects of the critical parameters on the performance of these algorithms. Finally, the convergence behavior of the proposed parallel (CP-SA) _II algorithm is studied theoretically. The results prove that the search process eventually converges to the global optimum if the overall best solution is maintained over time. / published_or_final_version / Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

The profitability of a manufacturer could be largely affected by underlying uncertainties embedded in the fast-changing business environment. Random factors, such as input material price at the procurement end or output product price and demand at the sales end, might produce significant risks. Effective financial hedging therefore needs to be taken to mitigate these risk exposures. Although it is common to use commodity futures to control the risks at either end separately, little has been done on the hedging of these risk exposures in an integrated manner. Therefore, this study aims to develop a planning approach that performs financial hedging on both the procurement risk and the sales risk in a joint manner. This planning approach is based on a framework that has a risk-averse commodity processor that procures input commodity and sells output commodity in the spot market, while hedging the procurement risk and sales risk through trading futures contracts in the commodity markets. Both the input and output commodities futures are used for the hedging. A both-end-hedging model is developed to quantitatively evaluate the approach. The evaluation is based on an objective function that considers both profit maximisation and risk mitigation. Decisions on spot procurement, input futures hedging position, and output futures hedging position are optimised simultaneously. As the input commodity is the main production material for the output commodity, positive correlation between the input material price and the output product price is considered. The customer demand is considered negatively correlated with the output product price. An ethanol plant using corn as the main input material is employed as an example to implement the proposed model. The model is represented as a stochastic program, and the Gibson-Schwartz two-factor model is employed to describe the stochastic commodity prices. Historical commodity price data are used to estimate the parameters for the two-factor model with state-space form and Kalman filter. By generating various scenarios representing evolving prices and the random customer demand, the stochastic program could be solved using linear programming algorithms under its deterministic equivalent. Numerical experiments are carried out to demonstrate the benefit that could be gained from applying the both-end-hedging approach proposed in this study. Comparing with traditional no-hedging model or single-end-hedging models, the improvement obtained from the proposed model is found to be significant. The effectiveness of the model is further tested in various price trend and price correlation, demand elasticity and volatility, and risk attitude of the decision maker. It is found that the proposed approach is robust in these various circumstances, and the approach is especially effective when the price trend is uncertain and when the decision maker has a strong risk-averse attitude. / published_or_final_version / Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering / Master / Master of Philosophy

Looking at newspapers nowadays, you are likely to see reports about public projects which turn out to be more expensive than estimated, sometimes even fourteen times the planned cost budget as in the case of the Sydney Opera. In order to gain a new insight on how this problematic could be improved, this paper aims to find correlations between the causes of deviations in public procurement and in the private market. Data from a on a global scale operating firm has been analyzed and compared to causes found in prior research. The questions this paper aims to answer are “Are causes and correlations found in smaller, private projects consistent with causes of cost overruns in public procurement?” and “Which implications and recommendations can be derived from the smaller dimension for the larger dimension of public procurement?”   After introducing the theoretical framework and its theories, the individual cost deviations and correlations of the different segments are introduced and analysed. As a result, one can see how the rational behaviour model and asymmetric information influence the estimated cost and that, in order to decrease the problematic of cost overruns, estimation techniques and especially the way contracts are constructed have to be improved. Furthermore, positive correlations between the size of cost deviations and number of employees, possible chain of events and pay offs between

Galimybę pasinaudoti teise į žalos atlyginimą viešuosiuose pirkimuose vertėtų laikyti vienu iš kertinių elementų, galinčių padėti užtikrinti viešųjų pirkimų procedūrų viešumą, skaidrumą, atitikimą teisės aktų reikalavimams. Šio darbo tikslas – nustatyti teisės į žalos atlyginimą efektyvaus įgyvendinimo ypatumus, visapusiškai išnagrinėti kiekvieną iš būtinų sąlygų civilinei atsakomybei dėl žalos viešuosiuose pirkimuose padarymo kilti, apibendrinti Lietuvos teismų ir Europos Teisingumo Teismo praktiką. Darbe analizuojama teisė į žalos atlyginimą viešuosiuose pirkimuose (VPĮ 96 straipsnio pagrindu) ir kiti VPĮ V skyriuje įtvirtinti tiekėjų teisių gynimo būdai, aptariami jų tarpusavio ryšiai. Darbe dėmesys taip pat skiriamas sąžiningų tiekėjų pareigai ginčyti neteisėtus perkančiosios organizacijos veiksmus VPĮ V skyriuje numatyta tvarka. Siekiant išsamesnės teisės į žalos atlyginimą viešuosiuose pirkimuose instituto analizės, darbo pradžioje identifikuojamas subjektų, turinčių teisę į žalos atlyginimą viešuosiuose pirkimuose, ratas, o kitose dalyse aptariama kiekviena iš civilinei atsakomybei dėl žalos viešuosiuose pirkimuose padarymo kilti būtinų sąlygų: kaltė, neteisėti veiksmai, žala ir priežastinis ryšys tarp neteisėtų veiksmų ir žalos. / One of the principal elements in the scope of public procurement is the ability to obtain damages, which ensures the transparency, publicity of public procurement procedures and meeting the requirements of law. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the singularities of the effective claim for damages, to scrutinize every condition for the civil liability in the scope of public procurement, to overview and summarize cases of Lithuanian courts and the European Court of Justice. The right to damages in the field of public procurement (Article 96 of the Law of Public procurement of Lithuania) and other remedies for civil rights protection are analyzed in this study, identifying connection between those remedies of civil rights protection. Attention is being paid to the duty of fair supplier to file a claim about the actions or decisions of the contracting authority under the Part V of the Law of Public Procurement of Lithuania. Seeking for the exhaustive analysis of the right to damages in the beginning of the study the group of subjects having right to claim for damages is being identified, in other parts of the study - every condition for the civil liability in the field of public procurement is analyzed: existence of fault, existence of damages and existence of a causal link between the fault and the claimed damages.

Magistro darbe atlikta pirkimų proceso ir jį sudarančių etapų mokslinės literatūros šaltinių analizė, įvertinta pirkimų proceso reikšmė sėkmingam įmonės valdymui. Susisteminti užsienio ir lietuvių autorių pateikti pirkimų klasifikavimo, tiekėjų vertinimo metodai. Išnagrinėta atsargų planavimo įtaka pirkimo procesui bei atskirų pirkimo proceso etapų tarpusavio sąveika. Praktinėje šio darbo dalyje atlikta AB „Mažeikių nafta“ pirkimų proceso analizė, nustatytos pirkimų proceso stipriosios ir silpnosios pusės, pirkimo procesą įtakojantys veiksniai. Išskirtos pagrindinės pirkimo proceso problemos bei pasiūlytos tobulinimo kryptys. Iš dalies patvirtinama autorės suformuluota mokslinio tyrimo hipotezė, kad pirkimo proceso s��kmę labiausiai įtakojantis veiksnys AB „Mažeikių nafta“– tai tikslus ir savalaikis pirkimų poreikio identifikavimas, kuris yra neatsiejama pirkimų planavimo dalis. / This Master Paper includes analysis of scientific literature sources associated with procurement process and its stages, evaluation of purchase process’ impact on successful management of a company. The Paper also includes systematization of procurement classification and suppliers’ assessment methods offered by foreign and Lithuanian authors as well as analysis of inventories planning impact on procurement process and interaction of individual stages of procurement process. The practical part of this Paper includes analysis of AB Mazeikiu Nafta procurement process, establishes strengths and weaknesses of the procurement process, and factors having an impact on the procurement process. This Paper partially confirms the scientific research hypothesis formulated by the author stating that successful procurement process in AB Mazeikiu Nafta is predetermined by exact and timely identification of procurement demand which identification shall be an integral part of procurement planning.

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