This four year Engineering Doctorate project was a collaboration between UMIST and Kitagawa Europe Ltd. Its main purpose was to develop tools and techniques which would assist managers in strategic planning, in order to drive business growth. Business modelling was selected as the' main environment for the application because it provides a means of representing an enterprise and exploring the widespread effects of strategic decisions. An action research method was employed, which involved building reduced models of several Kitagawa mini-projects, converting them into a general framework, then adding software tools to enhance strategic decision support. Sixteen static modelling techniques were reviewed and combined into a rational structure for process charting. Then nine dynamic software packages were tested, and a graphical, discrete event simulator named ProcessModel was selected for the project. This was used to construct four specific, reduced models, including one to investigate site consolidation and another to test factory production control. The next task was to develop these models into a general plug-and-play modelling architecture, which would be extensible in scope and detail, and allow rapid reconfiguration. This required nine high level design issues to be tackled, particularly division and integration of modules and standardising dynamic behaviour. Some important detailed techniques employed were an Entity Generator module, extensive. use of parameters and variables, new naming conventions and stock priming logic. A central feature of the general models is their technique for cost allocation, since this pennits detailed Cost Benefit Analysis to be carried out. The method which was developed extends Activity Based Costing to resources, and employs a flexible algorithm called Dynamic Resource Based Costing. Two significant tools based on Microsoft Access have been built to enhance decision support. ProjectScape provides help in pre-selecting projects and scenarios for further analysis; and a Results Analysis Tool processes simulation outputs to improve understanding and efficiency • Finally, the components created during this project have been assembled into a. methodology for other businesses, named Coherent Strategic Simulation. Its overall structure is a practical strategic management framework, named Continuous Creative Strategic Management, developed from previous work on strategy, product design and quality management.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:617093 |
| Date | January 2002 |
| Creators | Pritchard, Matthew Charles |
| Publisher | University of Manchester |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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