According to Michael Porter¡¦s Competitive Advantage, only through Value Chain Analysis, a company can realize it¡¦s cost behavior and the resources needed for differentiation. Thus the company can optimize its resources usage and increase it¡¦s business activities¡¦ performance. With the Internet environment, economic value for a company is nothing more than the gap between price and cost, and it is reliably measured only by sustained profitability. In e-retailing, e-retailers that want to reach competitive advantage and high economic value must consider how to create real margins, how to measure and manage the cost of e-retailing activities, and execute it in a efficient way to enhance e-retailer¡¦s competitive advantage. This research applies Activity-Based Costing approach to confer e-retailing activities. Value chain analysis is first employed to explore the primary activities of e-retailing. Then the improvement of cost and process are sought from activity analysis, resource cost driver and process cost driver. Finally, the critical e-retailing activities result from the internal value chain analysis. The research results indicated that the price of product and the characteristic of product have different influence on e-retailing activities. In addition, e-retailer want sustained profitability, the finite resource must provide for the customer and product that contribute to e-retailer¡¦s sustained profitability. Finally, the research also indicated that the link of marketing/sales activities and customer service activities are the most critical e-retailing activities. Keyword¡Gvalue chain, e-retailing activities, Activity Based Costing

This dissertation considers the problems of coordinating different supply chain inventory systems with private information under deterministic settings. These systems studied are characterized by the following properties: (a) each facility in the system has self decision-making authority, (b) cost parameters of each facility are regarded as private information that no other facilities in the system have access to, and (c) partial information is shared among the facilities. Because of the above properties, the existing approaches for systems with global information may not be applicable. Thus, new approaches for coordinating supply chain inventory systems with private information are needed. This dissertation first studies two two-echelon distribution inventory systems. Heuristics for finding the replenishment policy of each facility are developed under global information environment. In turn, the heuristics are modified to solve the problems with private information. An important characteristic of the heuristics developed for the private information environment is that they provide the same solutions as their global information counterpart. Then, more complex multi-echelon serial and assembly supply chain inventory systems with private information are studied. The solution approach decomposes the problem into separate subproblems such that the private information is divided as required. Global optimality is sought with an iterative procedure in which the subproblems negotiate the material flows between facilities. At the core of the solution procedure is a node-model that represents a facility and its corresponding private information. Using the node-model as a building block, other supply chains can be formed by linking the node-models according to the product and information flows. By computational experiments, the effect of the private information on the performance of the supply chain is tested by comparing the proposed approach against existing heuristics that utilize global information. Experimental results show that the proposed approach provides comparable results as those of the existing heuristics with global information.

In the face of the transition of Chinese medicine, the older generation has idea of the older generation, younger generation have younger generation's ideas, a lot of thing mind to fault, just among evolution, like puppet show either, make a reservation in having traditional skill of history and culture, how should change, innovate, the feeling making the modern different, everybody has faced a lot of challenges and struggled. Facing it while making the transition, the yellow document is being selected and yellow and gentle and strong in the face of father Huang JunXiong, believe their conflict, believe it is unavoidable too, so when we see their only fresh and beautiful appearance, in fact privately, impact, agony they receive, it is person of us that watch, and the family and undertaking that I face, perhaps there are a lot of similar places with the thunderbolt puppet show. Traditional Chinese medicine has curative effect, but will not injure the body, have concept of keeping in good health, what institutes of Chinese medicine made present, let the people think it has history, educated, the modernization is managed, how then how the present Chinese medicine institutes it goes to innovate to let, let the people think it has history, educated, there is the modernization that is managed, represent the different vitality, in fact, these it is I that make for thesis spirit of research of me horse mere Chinese medicine medical development of network.

A wireless sensor network can be used to track an object. Every sensor has limited energy and detecting range. In order to conserve energy, sensors may be put into sleeping mode. A sensor in the sleeping mode can not communicate with other sensors or detect objects. When the object moves to the sensing range of a sleeping sensor, a tracking error occurs. To minimize the tracking error subject to an constraint on energy consumption, we should determine the sleeping schedules of sensors based on the mobility pattern of the object. We propose determining the sleeping schedules based on the observation history of the moving object. We use computer simulation to justify the usage of the proposed approach.

<p>The future has always caught the attention of the human being. The thirst of exploring the future and to know the unknown has driven the human being toward innovativeness.</p><p>Companies are expanding their operations worldwide since the past few decades. Profit growth coupled with an effective strategy has become the primary need of global companies. Research in this area has given rise to optimization of the supply chain for higher profitability. Considering the overall strategy the company needs to plan production well in advance. The operational planning comes in picture at this moment. In order to reduce excessive inventory at each stage of the production; one should know the demand of the next stage and preferably the end customer demand. The process of sales forecasting is undertaken to predict demand at different stages. It is a complex managerial function and hence needed to be undertaken by a scientific way. The sales forecasting the function includes process of forecasting, administration, hardware, software, users and developers of forecast.</p><p>Historically sales forecasting has been considered as a side activity by most of the companies. Sales forecasting has not been considered as an important function of marketing and finance. Very few companies have seen sales forecasting by a scientific management point of view. Less research has been reported in sales forecasting in comparison to other managerial functions. Planning based on sales forecasting; may be part of a selected strategy for growth and profitability. These facts have attracted us to study sales forecasting as a managerial function.</p><p>The purpose of this study is to describe and analyze the sales forecasting process, sales forecasting system, sales forecasting methods and techniques. Further proposing possibilities of improvements in existing forecasting process is also purpose of this study.</p><p>We have selected three manufacturing companies for this study based on purposive sampling. Considering research interest in phenomenon study; we have selected a qualitative research strategy for this study. We have selected a case study method for our research as it is the most appropriate tool to study the relation between theory and phenomenon. For this research, we have collected the data by semistructured interviews based on a pre formed questionnaire. The questionnaire has been prepared with respect to our research purpose and open ended questions were used to gather extensive data. The data gathered during interviews, have been analyzed by the use of ‘Flow model’ suggested by Miles and Huberman (1994).</p><p>Results from this study shows that there is a need to see ‘sales forecasting’ as a management function rather than a computer activity. To achieve the best information integration throughout the supply chain, increased information visibility is needed. To achieve accuracy in both forecasting and planning; collaborative forecasting may be used. Forecasting software needs to have a suite of methods towards product specific forecasting. The need of customized softwares has also been indicated by this study. The need to measure performance of forecasting by means of accuracy, cost and customer relationship has been concluded.</p>

<p>Abstract</p><p>Today, the market is getting tougher and tougher and organisations need to concentrate more on the organisations core competence, to become successful and gain competitive advantage. One way to get this competitive advantage for an organisation is to start using Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) system. A VMI system, with the help of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), manages the informational and material flow between the distributor and the supplier by automation. This means that the supplier receives accurate information from the distributor, and can thereby plan deliveries of products when needed and at the right amount. These deliveries are done by automation and are based on the distributor’s shared information such as inventory- and sales figures. We have as a goal for this thesis to examine if the positive benefits described by literature do reflect those benefits with the benefits experienced by organisations.</p><p>The following question will be discussed and answered during this thesis:</p><p>• Do the benefits of a VMI system described in theories, match the benefits experienced by an organisation?</p><p>To answer our question, we have interviewed two managers about their companies’ way to use VMI. One interview was performed at a store working in the retail market and the other interview was performed at a grocery store. The interviews were performed to receive a deeper understanding of what the managers think about VMI, and also to understand how these benefits have been beneficial for their company. After the interviews, we started to compare and analyse the benefits gathered from literature with the benefits experienced by the managers for the companies. The analysis and comparison proved that there is a similarity between the benefits gathered from literature and the benefits experienced by the interviewees. We decided to categorise the benefits into three different categories: costs, service and inventory. Believing that this categorization was a good way to get you as a reader to have a lucid overview of which the benefits are, and which area of business they are beneficial in. Many of the gathered benefits could affect more than one area of business, and many cases benefits are created through chain reactions, benefits breeds new benefits.</p><p>The similarity of the benefits collected from the empirical findings compared with the benefits from theories, are striking, and we can thereby concluded that the experienced benefits by an organization using a VMI system highly represents the benefits described in the theories from literature.</p> / <p>I dagens hårda verklighet så måste varje organisation koncentrera sig mer och mer på sin kärnkompetens, om det ska vara med ute och slåss på den allt hårdare marknaden. Ett sätt att göra detta är att börja använda sig av ett Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) system. Ett VMI system med hjälp av Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) styr informations- och materialflödet mellan organisationen och dess leverantörer automatiskt. Detta betyder att leverantören får rätt information om sin kunds behov, och kan därmed planera tids- och kvantitetskorrekta leveranser till sin kund. Denna leverans görs automatiskt genom informationsdelningen så som lager nivåer, försäljningssiffror osv. överförs från distributören till leverantören. Vi har i denna kandidatuppsats koncentrerat oss på att undersöka om de positiva fördelarna som står i litteratur verkligen stämmer överens med upplevda fördelar som olika organisationer har uppmärksammat vid användningen av VMI. Frågan som styrt denna uppsats är följande;</p><p>• Stämmer de fördelar som står i litteraturen överens med de upplevda fördelar som organisationer har märkt?</p><p>För att få svar på vår fråga har vi använt oss av att intervjua två butikschefer om sina respektive företag. En intervju utfördes på en affär inom detaljhandeln och den andra utfördes i en matvarubutik Intervjuerna användes för att få en djupare förståelse om vad de intervjuade tyckte om användandet av VMI, samt för att försöka förstå hur fördelarna av VMI har varit till fördel för deras företag. Efter att ha analyserat och jämfört de fördelar som vi fann i litteraturen med de upplevda fördelar funna hos de intervjuade organisationerna analyserade vi dem. Analysen visade att de fördelar som finns i litteraturen överensstämde med de upplevda fördelar som organisationerna har uppmärksammat. Vi kategoriserade fördelarna i tre skilda kategorier; kostnader, service och lager. Detta gjordes i tron på att det skulle underlätta för läsarna att lättare kunna skapa sig en överblick över vilka fördelar som fanns och för vilka område dessa fördelat påverkar. Många av de funna fördelarna kan dock påverka mer än ett område, det kan också skapas kedjereaktioner på vissa fördelar, fördelar föder nya fördelar.</p><p>Likheterna mellan de insamlade fördelarna från litteraturen jämfört med de insamlade fördelarna från intervjuerna är slående, vi kan härmed säkerställa att de upplevda fördelarna från intervjuerna mycket väl överensstämmer med de fördelar som vi fann i litteraturen.</p>

<p>Supply chain management addresses the management of materials and</p><p>information across the entire chain from suppliers to producers,</p><p>distributors, retailers, and customers. In the past few decades, scholars</p><p>gave ample attention about the impact of inventory on Supply Chain</p><p>Management (SCM). Roughly speaking, research on supply chain management has</p><p>been mainly focused on three major issues. One is the behavior of</p><p>information flow; the second issue deals with inventory management; the</p><p>third issue is orientated to planning and operations management. In this</p><p>paper the second issue, namely inventory management will be discussed. The</p><p>author will follow the phases of classifying inventory; identify cost</p><p>factors; assess cost components; calculate EOQ; giving suggestion and</p><p>effect of inventory on supply chain will be discussed. The result is going</p><p>to become clear under the analysis of two alternatives by using MCDM</p><p>(Multiple Criteria Decision Making) method. The conclusion is when</p><p>optimizing the inventory management, both up stream and down stream</p><p>activities will run effectively.</p>

We study two interacting particles in a random potential chain by means of the transfer matrix method. The dependence of the two-particle localization length lampta_2 on disorder and interaction strength is investigated. Our results demonstrate that the recently proposed enhancement of lampta_2 as compared to the results for single particles is entirely due to the finite size of the systems considered. This is shown for a Hubbard-like onsite interaction and also a long-range interaction.

Universiẗat, Diss.--St. Gallen, 2005.

Thesis (M. Med. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 32-36).