This report provides a comparison of discrete-event simulation tools for supply chain models. We use different simulation tools (Arena and AnyLogic) to analyze and inspect the C14 supply chain management benchmark, as well as, a real-world business supply chain model that is provided by Vantai company in China. In this study, we consider different aspects of these simulation tools (such as, the capability of discrete-event simulation, visualization, simulation efficiency and accuracy, and debugging) to explore their advantages and disadvantages. We hope that our simulation results will have a positive impact on the supply chain management of the companies that provided us with data for this study; furthermore, the comparison results may be useful to developers and researchers in future simulation studies.

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.

This research study seeks to identify possible barriers that may exist within supply chain organisations and prevent the full acceptance, integration and utilisation of Internet based information system technologies, as is required by the new information age. The barriers can possibly be behavioural in nature (in measuring the use of information technology applications), psychological (dealing with perceptions) or be based on organisational policies and technical know-how. By conducting an empirical research investigation into the perceptions of users at different levels of supply chain management activity, the intention is to help organisations capitalise on their investment in information technology systems by identifying barriers to its usage after implementation. The hypothesis is derived from existing literature about business organisations‘ experiences and best practices, albeit it beyond the borders of South Africa. The respondents’ perspective is tested in a questionnaire to determine the level of organisational Internet based SCM integration and information sharing in the current South African market. This survey was conducted over a period of four months and targeted 2568 respondents. Both qualitative and quantitative data analyses were used to improve the value of research findings. The value of this research investigation is to assist South African supply chain management practitioners and researchers in competing with global players, since competitive advantage depends on competent supply chains in today’s digital economy, according to Philip Kotler (2001: 3). All the research objectives were achieved from the research sample data analysis. From the empirical research, the findings concern their search for lower prices, the payment receipt of money electronically and their order placement amongst others. The two underlying constructs that govern respondents’ SC interaction and in particular their information sharing activities are confidence and confidentiality, however the null hypothesis cannot be rejected. The results of this study and the contribution to the multi-discipline research area could be improved by future studies taking an even larger sample of the sample population to include more heterogeneous technology users in the study. This could facilitate the extrapolation of the results to the South African SCM market with more certainty. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Business Management / MCom / unrestricted

Många av dagens försörjningskedjor är komplexa och globala. Detta skapar utmaningar för företagen som arbetar med produkter som ska passera flera leverantörer innan de når slutkund. Blockchain är en teknik som kan förenkla företagens arbete med att styra försörjningskedjan och kontrollera de processer som sker inom och mellan varje aktör i kedjan. Detta görs genom att tekniken tillför spårbarhet och transparens där varje aktör måste dela med sig av information rörande produkten och de processer som genomförs. Genom detta kan företaget bekräfta och redovisa en produkts historik och ursprung. Det ställs idag högre krav från samhället och konsumenten som bidrar till att företag känner en ökad press att arbeta för att skapa spårbara och transparanta försörjningskedjor. Forskningen beskriver flera positiva fördelar med blockchain-tekniken inom försörjningskedjan, trots detta finns det få praktiska exempel på företagsmarknaden där företag implementerat blockchain. Denna studie har avsett att besvara forskningsfråga: Vad har företag för inställning till blockchain i försörjningskedjan?  Denna studie avser besvara syftet genom en kvalitativ forskningsmetod. Detta eftersom forskarna eftersträvat att få en djupare förståelse för problemområdet. Studien ämnar undersöka och identifiera faktorer som påverkar implementeringsgraden av blockchain i företag som arbetar med globala försörjningskedjor.  Studien använder semi-strukturerade intervjuer och dokumentation från företag. Det respondenter som deltagit i studien representerar företag som implementerat blockchain och konsultföretag som arbetar med att hjälpa företag att implementera tekniken. Respondenterna beskriver att de finns flera möjligheter med blockchain teknologin men att den även kommer med utmaningar som måste mötas innan en full implementering kan ske inom företaget.  Studiens resultat visar att företagens egen inställning till blockchain är att teknologin är problematisk, påverkas av externa faktorer och utmanande men även givande. Studien belyser även faktorer som kan vara avgörande om företag väljer att implementera samtidigt som studien även identifierat hinder. Det faktorer som gör att företag väljer att implementera blockchain är spårbarhet, transparens, lagkrav och hållbarhet. De faktorer som hindrar och försvårar en implementering är okunskap kring tekniken, aktörer som motsätter sig informationsdelning och slutligen omvärldens påverkan. Vår slutsats är där med att okunskap är den primära faktorn till varför implementering av blockchain inom den svenska företagsmarknaden är låg.

El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. / Avocado exports have increased considerably between 2016 and 2019 in Peru. For this reason, it is important that farmers develop strategies in their supply chain that will generate dwell value for their final product. In response to the above, Supply Chain Management Leagile (SCM Leagile) surface. This supply chain strategy Reduce processes that do not generate value to the product and have to rapid response to the constant change in demand for avocado to the international market. The objective of this paper is present a model of SCM Leagile which can be used by the farmers in various agrifood supply chains.

El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. / The demand for agricultural products for export is increasing every year. Thus, there is a need for a traceable and more communicative agricultural supply chain among its stakeholders. In addition, the increase in controls, verifications and communications in each SC agent makes agility and chain difficult, generating distrust among those involved. To overcome this issue, we consider Blockchain. Blockchain is a disruptive technology to decentralize data with this state-of-the-art technology, we develop a model that solves the traceability problem of the agricultural product. The model also improves transparency and security within the SC, increasing trust between the suppliers, collaborators and consumers.

Today, many small and medium enterprises (SMEs) either go out of business or see their growth being stalled due to poor activity management and organization, which is why they are often unprepared to engage against large companies leading their competitive markets. This study aims to develop a comprehensive management model, exclusively designed for SMEs in the jewellery sector, which may encompass all areas that create value and make them competitive. The development of this comprehensive management model was deployed in 21 steps classified into three tiers based on three major philosophies. This study uses lean manufacturing to identify activities that add value and reduce waste, and lean green was used to provide the environmental care and culture approach required for a friendly and fair workplace environment. The selected scenario is a jewelry workshop, wherein techniques and tools were completely applied and yielded a 20% increase in operating performance and a 15% increase in annual return.

Allocation planning describes the process of allocating scarce supply to individual customers in order to prioritize demands from more important customers, i.e. because they request a higher service-level target. A common assumption across publications is that allocation planning is performed by a single planner with the ability to decide on the allocations to all customers simultaneously. In many companies, however, there does not exist such a central planner and, instead, allocation planning is a decentral and iterative process aligned with the company's multi-level hierarchical sales organization. This thesis provides a rigorous analytical and numerical analysis of allocation planning in such hierarchical settings. It studies allocation methods currently used in practice and shows that these approaches typically lead to suboptimal allocations associated with significant performance losses. Therefore, this thesis provides multiple new allocation approaches which show a much higher performance, but still are simple enough to lend themselves to practical application. The findings in this thesis can guide decision makers when to choose which allocation approach and what factors are decisive for their performance. In general, our research suggests that with a suitable hierarchical allocation approach, decision makers can expect a similar performance as under centralized planning. / Die Allokationsplanung beschreibt den Prozess der Allokation knapper Ressourcen an einzelne Kunden, um die Nachfrage von wichtigeren Kunden zu priorisieren, zum Beispiel weil diese ein höheres Service-Level-Ziel verlangen. Eine übliche Annahme in Publikationen zu diesem Thema ist, dass die Allokationsplanung von einem einzigen Planer durchgeführt wird, der über die Allokation an alle Kunden gleichzeitig entscheidet. In vielen Unternehmen gibt es jedoch keinen solchen zentralen Planer, sondern die Allokationsplanung ist ein dezentraler und iterativer Prozess, der sich an der mehrstufigen hierarchischen Vertriebsorganisation des Unternehmens orientiert. Die vorliegende Arbeit analysiert die Allokationsplanung in einem solchen hierarchischen Umfeld mit analytischen und numerischen Methoden. Es zeigt sich, dass derzeit in der Praxis verwendete Allokationsmethoden typischerweise zu suboptimalen Allokationen führen, die mit erheblichen Performanceverlusten verbunden sind. Daher werden in dieser Arbeit mehrere neue Allokationsansätze entwickelt, die eine wesentlich höhere Performance aufweisen, aber dennoch einfach genug sind, um praktisch angewendet zu werden. Mit den Ergebnissen dieser Arbeit können Entscheidungsträgern entscheiden, wann welcher Allokationsansatz gewählt werden sollte und welche Faktoren die Performance beeinflussen. Generell legen die Untersuchungen nahe, dass bei einem geeigneten hierarchischen Allokationsansatz die Entscheidungsträger eine ähnliche Performance wie bei einer zentralen Planung erwarten können.

Supply-chain management is the practice combining theory from logistics, operations management, production management and inventory control. Therefore, it is often associated exclusively with manufacturing or materials management industries. Application of supply-chain management to other industries often results in implementations that do not satisfy the needs of the involved enterprises. To improve the implementation of supply-chain solutions outside of the materials management and manufacturing industries there is a need for industry specific standards. One industry sector in need of a standard is the services industry. The current problem facing the services sector is the inability to adapt current frameworks to the provisioning of a service. Provisioning a service translates into the supply-chain for the services industry since it influences the services supply and demand. A solution to the problem is development of a supply-chain standard specific to the provisioning of a service. Objectives of the research are to define comprehensively, a new services supply-chain model that is applicable to the United States government classification of a service and to ensure the scalability and integration capability of the model. To satisfy these objectives, it is necessary to understand the characteristics describing the services supply-chain process. The characteristics are the input into deriving the processes and terminology of the generalized services supply-chain. Terminology and processes are then used to create a supply-chain framework using input from the Supply-Chain Council's Supply-Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) model. SCOR provides a foundation for describing the processes and defining the terminology in an already accepted format. A final verification of the model by industry experts insures conceptually that the framework is applicable to the current problem. This research developed a three-level framework similar in structure to the SCOR framework. Presentation of the framework is a specification that defines and sequences the processes for implementation. A detailed case study applies the model using the framework and the definition of a comprehensive supply-chain.

Background: Sustainable Supply Chain Performance Measurement (SSCPM) and management are pivotal processes for any organisation to ensure the attainment of strategic intent. Large enterprises have been successful with the implementation of SSCPM. One of the reasons is that their motives and attitudes are consistent with SSCPM that yield sustainable returns. First, large companies usually have shareholders who are not the management of these companies. This means the management of the company is held accountable for adopting practices that create sustainable shareholder value. As such, management's attitudes to issues such as SSCPM tend to be positive because of the implications on the bottom-line of the firm. Consequently, management's behaviour is one of quick and comprehensive adoption of any practices that support the creation of sustainable shareholder value, and that includes SSCPM. Second, large companies tend to be in the spotlight when it comes to anything that can go wrong. Finally, these companies are also under pressure from their global suppliers and customers, who may want SSCPMs to be embedded in their operations as a condition for doing business with them. We can therefore conclude that there are three aspects associated with the adoption of SSCPM by large companies, namely motivation, attitude, and behaviour. What is not clear is whether the same aspects of motivation, attitude and behaviours operate in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). This study focuses on three types of SMEs, namely necessity, opportunity, and legacy, as they relate to motives. Given the differences in ownership, management, and scope of operations between large companies and SMEs, do motives, attitudes and behavioural variables operate within SMEs in the context of the adoption of SSCPM? We do not seem to have enough research to answer this question. Therefore, this study seeks to understand how entrepreneurial motivation, attitude, and behaviour influence SSCPM in manufacturing SMEs. Moreover, SMEs, particularly in developing contexts, are still lagging behind with sustainability integration in their Supply Chain Management (SCM). While much is said about SMEs, there is less concern for integrated systems, SCM practices and their future. There is a dearth of research on how entrepreneurial motives, attitudes and behaviour influence these performance measurements by SMEs. Methodology: The researcher's purpose in this study was to observe reality as it existed to maintain an objectivity which is devoid of value judgements. This objectivity resonates with the researcher's philosophical view which lends itself to a functionalist paradigm. Quantitative data were collected through a survey of manufacturing SMEs on entrepreneurial motives, attitudes, and behaviour towards SSCPM. The survey was directly administered to approximately 566 manufacturing SMEs, of which 211 completed questionnaires were received. The data were analysed through Partial Least Square-structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). Results: Opportunity-motivated entrepreneurs depict a positive attitude towards the adoption and implementation of SSCPM in their SCM. These SMEs are formed and run by professionals and experienced individuals who desire to grow their businesses. Legacy-motivated entrepreneurs do not show any attitudinal disposition towards SSCPM. As they are familyowned and run businesses that span many generations, legacy-entrepreneurs are likely to adopt the inherited culture in their practices. Necessity-entrepreneurs have a positive attitude towards SSCPM with a predominant focus on economic sustainability. They are mostly pushed into business by the need to survive and this makes them focus mostly on that which enables them to generate revenue while avoiding anything that entails having to invest in other areas. For instance, necessity-motivated entrepreneurs have a negative attitude towards environmental and social sustainability. The only time they begin to embrace it is when there are other forces around such as institutional pressures or resources that will directly affect their attitude towards SSCPM. The results reveal that institutional isomorphic patterns and resources impact in varying degrees on the SMEs' adoption and implementation of SSCPM. Government policies or coercive isomorphic pressures are generally weak about enforcing SSCPM at SMEs. For instance, limited resources hinder SMEs' willingness and ability to adopt and implement SSCPM practices in line with government policies. Limited resources therefore make the impact of government policies on the adoption and implementation of SSCPM at SMEs ineffective. The results showed that normative isomorphic pressures were major enablers of the adoption and implementation of SSCPM at SMEs. These normative pressures were mostly inflicted by large corporate customers who demanded that SMEs complied with sustainable sourcing and production. Mimetic isomorphic pressures come into play because of the need for all SMEs to attain economic sustainability. Resources are a major enabler for the adoption of environmental and social SSCPM while both the institution and resources shape the attitude of SMEs in a significant way towards sustainable developments. Lack of resources leads to a negative attitude to sustainability endeavours. Theoretical contribution: The study has contributed to sustainability literature, the interface among entrepreneurial motives, attitudes, and behaviour linkages with SSCPM. To the best of the researcher's knowledge this perspective has not been explored in either SCM or Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM). Many frameworks in SCM focus on the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) from a measurement perspective. The framework created in this study interfaces SSCM with entrepreneurial motives, attitudes and behaviour in the adoption of SSCPM at manufacturing SMEs. It further places the application of theory (Institutional and Resource Based View Theories) in a new empirical situation; more importantly, confirming the inability of coercive pressures to be placed on the adoption of environmental and social sustainability while re-enforcing the impact of normative pressures on the uptake of SSCPM. The SMEs' entrepreneurial attitude towards environmental and social sustainability is predominantly negative without institutional isomorphic pressures and the direct impact of resources on their attitude towards SSCPM. The analysis methodology adopted in this study reveals the shortcomings of Cronbach Alpha, which is rarely, if not always, silent in the social sciences. Cronbach Alpha does not only measure internal reliability, but it is also a test of length. If Cronbach is used to test internal consistency where the items are few, the tau-equivalence is immediately violated and that decreases reliability. However, if the number of items in a scale are more, reliability increases. Researchers in the social sciences, particularly SCM researchers, ought to know about this revelation. Practical Implications: These results will assist governments to find strategies to support entrepreneurs that are intrinsically motivated towards adopting sustainable integration practices. Governments may also embark on a customer awareness programme to enforce the taking up of sustainability practices in organisations while also exerting pressure on entrepreneurs who exhibit a negative attitude towards SSCPM. This strategy will go a long way towards adopting sustainable integration practices. Normative pressures from large customers have been identified as major players in enforcing SSCM at manufacturing SMEs. Big corporations may partner with SME suppliers to assist and guide them through compliance and taking the necessary steps to achieve sustainability integration. Collaboration among SMEs may help mitigate resource constraints to adopting sustainability practices as this may enable collaborative efforts in assisting themselves to reach their SSCM goals. Practitioners may also provide training and development programmes on SSCM for manufacturing SMEs. These training programmes should be conducted at no cost (through government funding) with manufacturing SMEs to achieve a wider impact on sustainability advancement. SMEs are central to economic growth, hence providing support, mentoring, and coaching on SSCPM which may go a long way towards strengthening the sector. Government may fund special projects that address SDG 12 and bring about collaboration between international and local buyers to guide the process in these SMEs. This research provides a platform for SME development and the enhancement of the community. SMEs may engage with community activists and NGOs on how to create sustainable relationships that last longer than expected. Development communities ranging from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the World Bank and African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), among others, may form partnerships with developing countries' governments specifically to address SSCM at manufacturing SMEs. For instance, AGOA may extend primary access to United States' (US) markets by adding sustainability support on export apparel to manufacturing firms in listed countries. The World Bank could direct resource support with clear accountability measures to developing countries on manufacturing SSCM-integration, while USAID may have ambassadors/directors in various countries to oversee its dedicated support for sustainable production in the developing contexts.