Manufacturing supply chains are invariably dynamic and complicated in nature. Hence, steady state models are not sufficient for analyzing and designing supply chains. Models of supply chains must accurately capture their dynamic behavior, which is determined by the structure of the organization, and the policies adopted by management. System dynamics modeling provides a powerful framework for this purpose. The use of system dynamics models in supply chain management has thus far been limited to explaining phenomenon like the bullwhip effect, and for policy development. We provide a structured approach for policy design, which doesn't rely on any simulation experiments. Further, we study the impact that information network design has on the response of supply chains. We use a combinatorial approach to develop guidelines for information network design. Further, we examine the possibility of utilizing a PID information feedback structure to enhance the responsiveness of the supply chain. Lastly, we propose a combined feedback feed-forward information structure to enable a supply chain to rapidly respond to disturbances whose effects are known. The goal of this dissertation is to provide a structured approach for the design of information network structure, and operating policy. / Ph. D.

This research is an analysis of the major challenges and barriers confronted when considering civil-military coordination in disaster operations. The main objective of this study was to investigate Swedish civil-military governmental organizations strengths and weaknesses together with the intention of increasing civil-military coordination. This study is conducted, to provide knowledge on progress understanding the challenges for civil-military coordination for Sweden.   The main conclusion of the research addresses the findings from Swedish organizations views about conditions for coordination. Also the implications of coordination based on real-life experiences, such as the Haiti earthquake, into a greater civil-military coordinating in disaster operations. Based on this analysis the Swedish organizations paradox remains that; at the same time of increasing demands on efficiency and effectiveness measuring organization’s performances, it presently has also the further demands and growing requests of military involvement in humanitarian operations. Thus, the issue of coordination becomes even more obvious amongst governmental organizations, in such way that it is challenging the current political policies, strategies and mandates, governing organizations today. Coordination becomes evident and illustrates the need for organizational changes; from traditional methods and processes, to a more useful and business oriented operations. Of which, greater efficiency and effectiveness should be the desired output. The question of coordination in disaster operations represents also motivation for organizations, to develop areas of performance in which greater use of their resources and capabilities can be achieved. In view of these, logistical challenges, including clear differences in capabilities, values and focus that make organizations develop in different ways; good examples of coordination were presented. These were intended as a foundation for further discussions among Swedish governmental organizations. Unresolved still, is whether increasing civil-military coordination is a marginal activity in the logistics area and consequently preventing the duplication and overlapping of tasks. Thus, it is more of an integrated activity that seeks to complement responses only partly, or is it more of a single strategy reaching higher effectiveness and efficiency of national resources?  Finally, the empirical findings are highlighting the need for a coherent governance of the humanitarian issue in Sweden. Therefore signifying, the need for greater trust and understanding of each other which should be regarded as the most important factors in the development of efficient civil-military coordination. Including, the need for a national coordination platform in which organizations can coordinate and develop capability for coordination.

In this dissertation, we study several quantitative approaches centered on supply chain management, sustainability development, performance measurement frameworks, and environmental regulation mechanisms. The topic of sustainability has been of great interest for the past few years in academia. Many governments also have taken actions to incentivize firms to reduce their negative environmental and social impacts. It is unclear, however, how successful policy makers have been in reducing the sustainability threats. This raises the question of ``how can policy makers play an effective role in helping businesses become more sustainable, while complying with entrepreneurs and investors' expectations?'' This dissertation is organized on the basis of six chapters. Having reviewed the literature and research directions of sustainable supply chain management in Chapter 1, we present a review of sustainability performance measurement frameworks in Chapter 2. In addition to proposing a framework to assess sustainability efficiency in supply chains, we discuss research questions with a focus on the social aspect of sustainability development. In Chapter 3, we develop a two-stage data envelopment analysis model with an application to the energy sector. This approach measures relative efficiencies of a number of comparable decision makers and does not require predetermined weights of indicators. We relax some restricting assumptions used in previous studies and obtain a nonlinear problem, for which we develop a solution method. Chapter 4 investigates a more general multi-stage assessment framework that monitors suppliers, manufacturers, distributers, and retailers' sustainable practices. The major finding is developing a multi-stage data envelopment analysis to measure supply chains' sustainability efficiency. In Chapter 5, we investigate market-based schemes with a focus on curbing pollution emitted by business entities and develop a game-theoretic formulation. Finally, we summarize the major contributions of this dissertation and future research directions in Chapter 6. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, it became apparent that the way organizations conduct business activities within and between themselves would be forever altered. Specifically, the way the firms share and distribute goods became an important area of interest to ensure the security of their supply chain partners and ultimately, society in general. Supply chain security (SCS) is defined as activities that protect supply chains from damage, terrorism, and contraband. This dissertation adds to an emerging knowledge base – SCS efforts. More specifically, this dissertation attempts to address three key areas concerning SCS: 1) understand what type of SCS activity taxonomy exists; 2) understand what is driving those taxonomy categories to exist; and 3) understand what, if any, relationship between the SCS taxonomy categories and organizational performance exists. To gain this knowledge, inductive and deductive techniques were utilized. First, in-depth semi-structured interviews with 19 executives across a variety of industries concerning SCS issues were conducted to help frame the research and develop research hypotheses. Through content analyzing the interview transcripts, it became salient that institutional environmental pressures were what respondents indicated were the causes of security activities. As such, Institutional Theory was used as a theoretical framework for the dissertation. Second, a survey method was used to collect data concerning supply chain security activities, pressures that cause them, and organizational performance. In the empirical examination of SCS, it was found that three categories of security exist. The taxonomy that emerged had three categories that were named Security Pros, Follow-the-Leaders, and Necessary Evils. The next part of the empirical examination was to determine which, if any, of the identified drivers impact the SCS categories. Using multiple discriminant analysis, it was determined that customers and societal pressures are significant in impacting the SCS categories. Finally, a multiple analysis of variance was conducted to determine if different types of SCS categories were associated with different types of organizational performance. The results indicated that different groups were not related to different levels of firm, customer, market, and supply chain performance.

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