Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Political Science, 1981. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND DEWEY. / Vita. / Bibliography: leaves 277-292. / by Laurel Wynne Fuyo Kimura. / Ph.D.

The manufacturing sector is a highly dynamic environment subject to continuous change and environmental uncertainty as parts, components and materials are procured and sourced globally. To be competitive, manufacturers must respond to such uncertainties rapidly and with the greatest flexibility in order to procure and maintain the supply of raw materials resources to sustain their manufacturing operations. Thus, the understanding and measuring of the procurement flexibility are key steps in maintaining a competitive advantage. So, the present study examined the theoretical concepts of procurement flexibility and proposed a generalisable measurement scale for manufacturing procurement flexibility. The scale was based on five supplier-manufacturer procurement dimensions of information exchange, supplier integration, product and component delivery, logistics and organisational structure. Further, each of these dimensions was divided into three flexibility elements of range, uniformity and mobility. A measurement scale was developed fiom a review of extant literature on flexibility relationships, purchasing, procurement and supply chain management using Q-Sort methodology. A mail survey of the major industry groups in the Australian manufacturing industry was undertaken. Principal component analysis and multiple regressions were used to examine the relationships between the flexibility dimensions and their elements. The results indicate that there is still much theory formulation and research to be conducted on procurement flexibility measurement scales. The results also revealed that Australian manufacturers have a limited experience with the flexibility issue and in some cases do not have even a procurement strategy. / These results provide important practical information and establish a range of relevant implications for the Australian manufacturing sector and its future competitiveness. This study also provides a basis for the continued development and distillation of procurement flexibility measures. One of the interesting outcomes of the Supplier Manufacturer Procurement Flexibility (ProcFlex) dimensions and the implication for overall Supply Chain Management (SCM) objectives and strateges is that ProcFlex is cumulative. Any inflexibilities and constrictions, like excess and lack of inventory, in procurement activities is accumulated and increases along the supply chain. It is like a 'stock-whip' effect that runs from suppliers to customers as to the reverse of the 'bull whip' effect.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 130-144).

This study considers whether or not optimizing process metrics and settings across a supply chain gives significantly different outcomes than consideration at a firm level. While, the importance of supply chain integration has been shown in areas such as inventory management, this study appears to be the first empirical test for optimizing process settings. A Partial Least Squares (PLS) procedure is used to determine the crucial components and indicators that make up each component in a supply chain system. PLS allows supply chain members to have a greater understanding of critical coordination components in a given supply chain. Results and implications give an indication of what performance is possible with supply chain optimization versus local optimization on simulated and manufacturing data. It was found that pursuing an integrated approach over a traditional independent approach provides an improvement of 2% to 49% in predictive power for the supply chain under study.

Over the past 50 years, women have become important participants in the labor market. With the increase in the number of middle-aged women going through the menopause transition, the question arises as to the effect of this transition on the labor market. Previous studies have shown that reproductive cycles have a non-trivial negative effect on women’s labor market outcomes. Thus, the cessation of these reproductive cycles (menopause) should bring relief for these women. However, another body of literature asserts that the menopause transition itself has a negative effect on women’s mental and physical health and so may have a negative effect on labor market outcomes. This study seeks to explore the effect of the menopause transition on labor market outcomes. The empirical analyses are done using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Young Women, with the key explanatory variables being the menopause transition stages: premenopause, perimenopause, surgical menopause and natural postmenopause. The regressions include a control for whether the woman experienced early menopause and whether she had a hysterectomy. The first part of the study examines the impact of the menopause transition on health using depression and the scores on the activities of daily living as the measures of health status. These analyses use cross sectional data drawn from the 1995 wave of the survey for activity limitations and the 2003 wave for the depression measure. The findings of these analyses indicate that the menopause transition increases the likelihood of depression and functional limitations. The main part of the study explores the effect of the menopause transition on the following labor market outcomes: labor force participation, hours worked, full time employment, wages, and self-employment. Ordinary Least Squares, the fixed effects model, the random effects model, and the family fixed effects (siblings) model are used to examine these questions. The analysis also uses 2SLS to correct for endogeneity of the menopause variables and the Heckman two-step procedure to correct for sample selection bias. The findings show that women in premenopause are less likely to be in the labor force than women in natural postmenopause, even after controlling for life-cycle variables. The results also indicate that there are certain benefits from using hormone replacement therapy (HRT), as women who had surgical menopause and are using hormones are more likely to be in the labor force than women with surgical menopause who are not using HRT. Women in premenopause and women in perimenopause are less likely to work full-time compared to women who experienced natural postmenopause. The findings also show that there are no significant differences in hours worked by women in the different menopause stages. Women in premenopause typically earn more than women in natural postmenopause. Furthermore, women in perimenopause and women with surgical menopause are more likely to be self employed. The findings indicate that, among a generally healthy population, the menopause transition results in an increase in labor supply. However, a wage penalty is observed among women in postmenopause, when compared to women who are premenopause. The implications of the findings are that menopause should not be medicalized but should be viewed in a social and cultural context as the changes that occur during the transition may open up possibilities for positive individual development. Thus the cessation of menstrual cycles brings relief for women and results in an increase in labor supply, albeit one associated with a wage penalty.

This Master thesis has been made for Volvo Group Trucks Operations, Logistics Services (VGLS) in Gothenburg. Other companies within the Volvo Group and Volvo Car Corporation (VCC) have been involved during the process, including Volvo Trucks Umeå (VTU), Volvo Trucks Tuve (VTT) and Volvo Cars Body Components (VCBC) in Olofström. The thesis has examined activities within the supply chain process between three factories, VCBC – VTU – VTT. The different companies at each location serve different purposes in the supply chain, ultimately leading to a finished truck. To get a complete truck it takes different types of resources and thus an effective and well-functioning infrastructure to cope with the transportation of resources in an efficient way. VGLS is the provider of logistics services between the factories, meaning VGLS is in charge of the transportation process between the locations and take care of related transportation issues. A few years ago a project was started with the participation of VGLS with the aim to identify different types of objects better, via Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), aiming to create a more efficient supply chain. VGLS now wants to further exploit this technology as future implementation of RFID is soon ahead of them. According to the possibilities and opportunities related to RFID this thesis has critically examined activities in the supply chain process and its underlying problems, trying to create the right conditions for VGLS in order for them to better cope and utilize a near future RFID implementation. The main result of this study indicates that the problems of the transportation flow don’t derive from the physical transportation of material, but rather in the information flow between the actors. The results indicate that more emphasis should be placed on creating new ways to achieve more efficient information sharing, which in some cases can be facilitated through the use of RFID.

This study considers whether or not optimizing process metrics and settings across a supply chain gives significantly different outcomes than consideration at a firm level. While, the importance of supply chain integration has been shown in areas such as inventory management, this study appears to be the first empirical test for optimizing process settings. A Partial Least Squares (PLS) procedure is used to determine the crucial components and indicators that make up each component in a supply chain system. PLS allows supply chain members to have a greater understanding of critical coordination components in a given supply chain. Results and implications give an indication of what performance is possible with supply chain optimization versus local optimization on simulated and manufacturing data. It was found that pursuing an integrated approach over a traditional independent approach provides an improvement of 2% to 49% in predictive power for the supply chain under study.

Abstract   Problem discussion: The significance of the oil industry’s impact on the global economy is obvious. Oil supply chain management has to solve a lot of challenges caused by the nature of the supply chain in the oil industry such as complexity, inflexible characteristics, long lead time, limited transportation forms at the different stages in the supply chain, rigid take or pay procurement and limited primary distribution capacity. Other challenges are caused by unforeseen events such as political or economic changes which have an impact on the price of the oil. This thesis seeks to add value by signifying and indicating optimization as a way to address uncertainties and points out a way to utilize resources efficiently in order to gain further development and cost savings in the long term. Finding options for optimization of the oil supply chain is vital because any cost saving means vast amounts of money for the oil companies therefore optimization is at the centre of attention in the oil supply chain management. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate supply chain management in the oil industry and find options for optimizing the supply chain in the oil industry by reviewing and analyzing previously written literature on the chosen topic for the research.  Method: A single case study was applied in this thesis. The company chosen for the case study is called MOL Hungarian oil and gas PLC and is located in Hungary. To carry out the research, a qualitative research approach was implemented. Primary data was collected through semi structured interviews via telephone and the internet with the company’s staff. In addition to this, secondary data from different sources such as articles and books were used to construct or build the theoretical frame of reference for the thesis.  Delimitation: The scope of the thesis is limited to the supply chain management in the oil industry and its optimization. Further narrowing the scope, this thesis gives more attention to the downstream section of the supply chain in the oil industry. Conclusion: Optimization is recognised as main tool for the oil companies to achieve competitive advantage. Analysing MOL Group gives a factual example how optimization works in an oil company and contributes to manage its supply chain efficiently and handle the many uncertainties surrounding the oil industry. It is demonstrated what factors play key role in optimization and how they interact with each other. MOL Group’s solution for optimization builds around a serious planning process, IT solution, marketing and refinery operation triggering and working in synergy with many other factors which cannot be excluded from the optimization process. Due to the excellence of supply chain optimization, MOL Group has a very strong presence and leading position in the East Central European region generating increasing profit margin year by year in last two decades.

This dissertation analyzes the economic incentives involved in three distinct supply chain and revenue management decision environments. The first study examines the adoption of the percent deviation contract in a supply chain to induce the buyer to share some of the demand risk in an environment in which the buyer would typically place her order when she has full knowledge of the customer demand levels. The subgame-perfect Nash Equilibrium decisions are characterized, and the percent deviation is shown to achieve full supply chain channel coordination in cases where a simpler contract cannot. Pareto-improving examples based on industry demand data are presented and discussed. The second section considers a revenue management problem for sports and entertainment organizations. Given that the organization starts the selling season by offering ticket packages exclusively, the optimal time during the selling season for the organization to begin selling individual-event tickets is derived. Extensions of the base model are developed to include multiple ticket packages and heterogeneous ticket packages. The model is illustrated using empirical data sets obtained from the Georgia Tech Athletic Department and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. The third section develops a model of vendor-controlled category management in which vendors are in charge of the stocking and assortment decisions for a given amount of shelf space at a vendor when the retailer retains control over the retail price. The subgame-perfect Nash Equilibrium strategies for two vendors and a single retailer are analyzed, and a revenue-sharing contract is shown to coordinate the channel when the vendors can produce multiple brands in a given product category and shelf space is sufficiently large or small.

The thesis has closely examined that an important shortcoming of the Keynesian analysis is the neglect of potential tax-induced aggregate supply effects, and therefore, just as Marshall's proverbial scissors with one "misplaced" blade, the government cannot make proper policy decision. Hence, this paper incorporates the tax-induced aggregate supply effects into the analysis. When a model does not include the supply-side effects of tax-induced, it degrades to a Ramirez (1986) and cannot be sued for policy assignment. On the other hand, a model incorporates the tax-induced aggregate supply effects remedies the flaws in Ramirez (1986) and can be used for appropriate policy assignment.