No description available.

No description available.

Today, there is little understanding of how local decisions and disturbances impact the global performance of the supply chain. In this research, we attempt to gain insight about such relationship using multi-resolution hybrid models. To this end, a novel hybrid architecture and methodology consisting of simulation (system dynamic and discrete-event) and optimization modules is proposed. The proposed methodology, applicable to general supply chains, is divided into fours stages: plan stability analysis (Stage I), plan optimization (Stages II), schedule optimization (Stage III) and concurrent decision evaluation (Stage IV). Functional and process models of the proposed architecture are specified using formal IDEF tools. A realistic three-echelon conjoined supply chain system characterized by communicative and collaborative (VMI) configurations is analyzed in this research. Comprehensive SD models of each player of the supply chain have been developed. General conditions of the stability (settings of control parameters that produce stable response) are derived using z-transformation techniques (Stage I), and insights into the behavior of the supply chain are gained. Next, a novel method for the integration of the stability analysis with performance analysis (optimization) is presented (Stage II) by employing the derived stability conditions derived as additional constraints within the optimization models. Next, in Stage III, the scheduling at each chain partner using discrete-event simulation (DES) modeling techniques is addressed. In Stage IV, the optimality of the SD control parameters (from Stage II) and DES operational policies (from Stage III) for each member are concurrently evaluated by integrating the SD and DES models. Evaluation in Stage IV is performed to better understand the global consequence of the locally optimal decisions determined at each supply chain member. A generic infrastructure has been developed using High Level Architecture (HLA) to integrate the distributed decision and simulation models. Experiments are conducted to demonstrate the proposed architecture for the analysis of distributed supply chains. The progressions of cost based objective function from Stages I-III are compared with that from the concurrent evaluation in Stage IV. Also the ability of the proposed methodology to capture the effect of dynamic perturbations within the supply chain system is illustrated.

Bakgrund: Det senaste decenniet har allt fler stormarknader och lågprisbutiker öppnat vilket har lett till att de mindre livsmedelsbutikerna blivit utsatta för större konkurrens. Parallellt med att stormarknaderna tagit marknadsandelar i dagligvarubranschen har även större fokus riktats mot ökat samarbete och informationsdelning i försörjningskedjan, så kallat Supply Chain Management (SCM). Inom dagligvarubranschen har Efficient Consumer Response (ECR) utvecklas ur samma idéer som SCM men med fokus på livsmedel och dess försörjningskedjor. I grund och botten handlar ECR om företagens gemensamma arbete för att integrera verksamheter, minska kostnader samt producera största möjliga nytta för slutkonsumenten. Med tanke på den ökade konkurrensen i dagligvaruhandeln samt det faktum att det finns ont om tidigare forskning om små och medelstora företag (SME:s) relaterat till SCM/ECR, är det intressant att undersöka hur dessa företag påverkas av samarbetet. Det går att ifrågasätta om SCM/ECR samarbetet i försörjningskedjan är väl anpassat för de små och medelstora butikerna längst ut i försörjningskedjan, samt om det lämnar något utrymme för dem att differentiera sig och i längden skapa hållbara konkurrensfördelar. Syfte: Syftet med studien är således att undersöka hur SCM och ECR i dagligvarubranschen påverkar SME:s längst ut i försörjningskedjan. Mer specifikt syftar uppsatsen till att undersöka om SCM/ECR samarbetet är anpassat för de små och medelstora företagen. Syftet är även att undersöka om samarbetet lämnar utrymme för dessa företag att differentiera sig? Metod: Studien har utförts med en kvalitativ ansats, varvid sex semistrukturerade besöksintervjuer har genomförts med tre ICA – och tre Hemköpshandlare, vilka alla kan anses driva SME:s i dagligvarubranschen. Slutsats: I studien har det identifierats att SCM och ECR har haft stor påverkan på små och medelstora butiker i livsmedelsbranschen. Samarbetet tycks ha haft positiv men också negativ påverkan på butikernas dagliga verksamhet samt långsiktiga styrning. Vidare har det konstaterats SCM och ECR har minskat de små och medelstora butikernas lokala differentieringsmöjligheter.

In Recent years, global supply chain management has been a popular study area due to the economic globalization. This study mainly focus on the demand planning process of demand management in global supply chain management. The purpose of this thesis is to find the key factors and obstacles in demand planning process both in theory and practice, and solutions for the obstacles. Based on many scholar researches, a brief introduction of demand management and demand planning has been made at the beginning of the theoretical framework. Key factors, key obstacles and solutions are collected and clarified from empirical study and scholar researches in the theoretical framework. Qualitative approach is adopted as basic approach. We use case study to do the research and interviews to collect data. A server manufacturer of IBM named ISTC (International System Technology Corporation) is chosen as a case for this research. The key factors, obstacles and improvements of empirical study are compared with the facts of ISTC. New factors, obstacles and their new descriptions are figured out through the comparison between theory and the fact of the case. A suggestion for improvement and solution for the demand planning process is also put forward based on the empirical study and the facts of ISTC by this method.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1980.

No description available.

This dissertation has been written in the belief that the analysis therein is an original and useful contribution to the understanding of the problems of mobilizing surplus rural labour in Pakistan and similar countries. [...]

This thesis documents the genealogy of the development of Jakarta’s urban water supply infrastructure from 1873 (the inception of the first colonial water supply network) to the present. Using an analytical framework of governmentality, supplemented by insights from postcolonial studies and political ecology, the thesis explains the highly unequal patterns of water access in Jakarta as the product of (post)colonial governmentalities, whose relations of power are expressed not only through discursive categories and socio-economic relations, but also through material infrastructures and urban spaces. The thesis presents material from the colonial archives, Jakarta’s municipal archives, and the publications of international development agencies and engineering consultancy firms. This is combined with primary data derived from interviews, questionnaires, and participant observation of the implementation of current pro-poor water supply projects in Jakarta. This data is used to document how water supply is implicated in the discursive and material production of the city and its citizens, and to challenge conventional developmentalist and academic analyses of water supply access. Specifically, a conceptual triad of water, space, and populations – produced through, but also productive of government rationalities – is used to explain two apparent paradoxes: (1) the fragmentation of access in Jakarta despite a century of concerted attempts to develop a centralized system; and (2) the preferences of lower-income households for non-networked water supply, despite its higher cost per unit volume. This analysis hinges on an elucidation of the relationships between urban governance and urban infrastructure, which documents the interrelated process of differentiation of types of water supply, water use practices, populations, and urban spaces from the colonial period to the present. This, in turn, is used to explain the barriers being encountered in current pro-poor water supply development projects in Jakarta. The thesis thus makes a contribution to current academic debates over the ‘colonial present’. The contribution is both theoretical – in the emphasis placed upon the materiality of governmentality – and empirical. Finally, the thesis also makes a contribution to the urban and development studies literatures through its reinterpretation of the urban ‘water crisis’.

<p>Firms' inventory or production decisions are influenced by a variety of factors, including both the selling price of the end products and the purchasing cost of raw materials. In most cases, there is a strong connection between purchasing costs and selling prices. In my dissertation, I study the impact of prices on a firm's inventory</p><p>decisions, particularly in systems with delivery lead time and environmental concerns. The findings are reported in three studies. The first study analyzes the joint inventory and pricing problem with lead time, which is known to be difficult to solve due to its computational complexity. We develop a simple heuristic to resolve</p><p>the computational issue and reveal the impact of lead time on the joint decisions. In the second study, we extend the heuristic approach in the previous study to systems with both positive lead time and fixed ordering costs. The effectiveness of the heuristic in both studies are verified through both theoretical bounds and numerical experiments. In the third study, we examine the effect of the procurement cost and its volatility on a firm's profit. This allows us to study under what conditions a firm can profitably operate an eco-friendly supply chain. Our study also helps the firms to understand what type of products would better absorb the higher costs associated with an eco-friendly production system.</p> / Dissertation