1,720,988 research outputs found
Characterizing agile supply partnerships in the fashion industry
Full text linkPurpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate high-involvement and short-term supply
relationships, known as agile supply partnerships (ASPs), and explores the conditions that support the
development of such inter-organizational relationships.
Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative exploratory research design was followed, based on
in-depth case studies of Italian fashion footwear manufacturers and their relationships with key suppliers.
Findings – ASPs appear to be most relevant in supply material categories which have a high impact
on the appearance or functionality of the product. Conversely, in supply categories with a low impact,
long-term partnerships are preferred. Four main characteristics of ASPs are identified: they are part of
a portfolio of relationships to balance the rigidities of long-term strategic partnerships; they have
project-like features; they are developed from a network of pre-qualified suppliers; they are recurring
and intermittent rather than continuous or isolated one-off short-term partnerships.
Research limitations/implications – The research has been carried out in the context of an Italian
footwear district. Further research is required to evaluate the validity of the propositions in other
sectors and geographies.
Practical implications – The research can help decision makers in the fashion industry, and
potentially other sectors affected by high turbulence, to identify when ASPs are most appropriate and
what characteristics they should have.
Originality/value – This research contributes to the literature on agility by empirically evaluating
the apparent paradox related to the specific characteristics of supply relationships required to foster an
agile strategy and by clarifying the conditions under which fashion companies develop ASPs
An investigation of the mirroring of supply chain configuration modularity, and product modularity in contemporary supply chains
Full text linkThe introduction of new to market products is a challenge, in high technology markets, where speed and product variation are key considerations. High technology companies require the ability to simultaneously combine operational excellence, customer intimacy and product leadership. A lack of coordination between new product development (NPD), product planning and supply chain configuration (SCC) is a recognised cause of many early-life product failures. This research has one objective: to increase our understanding of the role of modularity in linking SCC and NPD decisions. The research incorporates general systems theory (GST) and knowledge-based theory (KBT), in mirroring product modularity (PM) and SCC modularity (SCCM) within contemporary supply networks.
A systematic literature review (SLR) advocates the use of modular design, in linking these concepts and boosting the rate of innovation. The literature indicates that product architecture (PA) and SCC tend to be mirrored in modularity levels, post product launch, and this mirroring is desirable. The literature identified a gap in how SCCM is conceptualised, and how this mirroring manifests itself. These gaps are addressed in the empirical research conducted in project two, where the SCCM construct was developed and used to assess the manifestation and benefits of PM and SCCM mirroring across ten products (UoA) in five case companies across four industry sectors. Mirroring is evident, in six of the UoA, the remaining four UoA exhibit a medium level of mirroring, post product launch. The contribution to theory is a conceptualisation of SCCM where supply chain tiering is a main indicator. Propensity for modules to decouple; early supplier involvement, and a mirrored product and SCC life cycle perspective are the three causal linkages which enable mirroring of PM and SCCM post product launch.
The SLR identified the use of co-development (CD), feedback (FC) and feedforward anticipatory control (FAC) at concept design to increase the mirroring of PM and SCCM, post product launch. In project three hypotheses were tested which advocate the use of these mechanisms, and the associated underlying mechanisms were investigated. The findings indicate use of CD and FAC, but a lack of FC, and mirroring support for platform design. The contribution to practice is an intervention framework applied at the concept stage that improves the coordination between NPD, SCC and product planning for new to market products
Supply chain alignment for improved business performance : an empirical study
Full text linkPurpose:
– This study aims to explain how supply chain alignment, which remains a major challenge for supply chains, can be achieved and its implications for business performance (BP) by testing the strengths of the relationships between previously identified enablers, supply chain alignment and BP.
Design/methodology/approach:
– A literature review develops hypotheses on the relationships between enablers, alignment and BP. A survey of medium-to-large UK manufacturing companies was conducted where the sample comprised 151 randomly selected companies, and the response rate was 56 per cent. Partial least square regression was used to test the hypothesis.
Findings:
– Two types of supply chain alignment are defined – shareholder and customer – but only customer alignment (CA) has a direct positive impact on BP, while shareholder alignment (SA) is its antecedent. Top management support was shown to be an enabler of both shareholder and CA, while organisation structure, information sharing and performance measurement system enabled SA, while internal relational behaviour enabled CA.
Research limitations/implications:
– Supply chain management research lacks knowledge on exactly how supply chain alignment can be achieved and what BP implications it has. This research provides a tested conceptual model to address this gap.
Practical implications:
– The refined conceptual model provides precise guidance to practitioners on how to improve BP through supply chain alignment.
Originality/value:
– Whilst the strategic management literature emphasizes the importance of SA, this study reveals another crucial alignment – CA – and shows its direct positive impact on BP
An investigation into heat dissipation from a stationary commercial vehicle disc brake in parked conditions.
Full text linkDetailed understanding of heat dissipation from a stationary disc brake is of considerable
importance for vehicle safety. This is essential for both park braking on inclines and for
preventing brake fluid boiling in hydraulic brakes. Despite the experience proving the
significance of such conditions, there is very little published data dealing with this phenomenon,
and even ECE Regulation 13 does not specify hot parking braking performance. The problem of
heat dissipation from stationary brake may appear simplistic but it is actually more complex
than from a rotating disc, due to the lack of symmetry through or a dominant mode of heat
transfer as natural convection is the only driving force behind the airflow. All three heat transfer
modes exist in a transient process, with complex heat transfer paths within and between brake
components.
This Thesis investigates the cooling performance of a Commercial Vehicle (CV) brake whilst in
stationary conditions. The research is predominantly orientated towards the thermal aspects of
Electric Parking Brake (EPB) application in CVs. Contraction of large brake components after
hot parking may lead to vehicle rollaway on inclines, with tragic consequences. An extensive
theoretical and experimental study was conducted. An analytical model of a disc brake in free
air was developed, enabling good prediction of disc temperatures and average surface
convective heat transfer coefficients (hcₒnv) over the entire cooling range. A comprehensive
CFD modelling of the 3-dimensional flowfield around the disc brake was also conducted, as
well as predicting the surface convection coefficient distribution. Shear Stress Turbulence
model was found to be most suitable for such studies. FE models were created to predict
temperatures in all components of the brake assembly. A special Thermal Rig was developed
for experimental validations, which uses an induction heater for heating the disc brake, and
numerous surface mounted and embedded thermocouples for measuring component
temperatures, as well as ‘free standing’ for determining air temperatures in specific points. IR
cameras provided further temperature field information.
The results clearly show little influence of the conductive heat dissipation mode. The study also
showed, for the experimental arrangement used, a constant value of surface emissivity (ɛ = 0.92). With well-defined conductive and radiative heat dissipation modes, the emphasis was
placed on investigating convective heat dissipation from a stationary disc brake. It has been
demonstrated that the anti-coning straight vane design of brake disc does not cool effectively in
stationary conditions. Expected ‘chimney effects’ in disc vent channels do not materialise due to
large scale recirculation regions preventing airflow from entering the channels, which
drastically reduces the convective cooling. Complex thermal interactions between the large
assembly components are explained, with typical cooling time being just over an hour for disc
brake cooling from 400°C to 100°C.
Extracted heat transfer coefficients were used for establishing a complex FE assembly model,
which enables accurate prediction of temperatures of individual components over the entire
cooling period. The developed approach is used for predicting temperature of the existing brake
assembly but is equally suited for generating new designs with more favourable characteristics.
In addition to being a powerful design tool for assisting in EPB design and validation process,
the methodology developed offers wide applications, such as thermal optimisation of the caliper
housing for the installation of continuous wear monitoring sensors, smart slack adjusters (for
low friction drag brakes), etc.
EPBs in passenger cars have been successfully used for over 10 years now. They use a
relatively simple approach for ensuring safe parking from hot by over-clamping (applying
approximately twice the required actuating force) and re-clamping (repeated application after
the vehicle has been parked). Large CV actuating forces prevent the use of over-clamping as
this could damage the disc, whilst re-clamping would need to be repeated several times over a
much longer period of time, requiring the vehicle battery to power the electronic systems for a
longer period of time without recharging. Neither approach is acceptable, requiring a more in-
depth thermal study of the CV brake in stationary conditions, as investigated in this Thesis. In
addition to technical, there are marketing and financial aspects which make EPB introduction
and acceptance in commercial vehicles very different to passenger car applications.
Such an investigation was conducted, exploring the market the CV EPB will be sold in and
whether it would accept the new technology. Two questionnaire analyses were carried out, with
the second giving the respondent detailed information about the EPB. It was found that using an
informed, knowledge based approach yielded more positive feedback to the proposed product.
The outcome may be even considered more contrary than expected, rather than instigating
mistrust, the new CV EPB technology created interest. Furthermore, reports of pneumatic
malfunction indicated that independence from the pneumatic system should be used as the key
selling point for the EPB, for all beneficiary segments.Engineering and Physical Sciences (EPSRC)Eng
The effects of supply chain disruptions due to hurricanes on stock price.
Full text linkAktas, Emel - Associate SupervisorPurpose and Rationale: It is known that supply chain disruptions have a
negative stock price effect and that the effect is stronger if these are caused by
catastrophes. However, these effects of hurricane-induced supply chain
disruptions on stock price remain unexplored, even though the annual average
hurricane damage in the US due to hurricanes is 9bn is to
commercial businesses. This thesis aims to: 1. Explore, classify and connect the
three concepts of natural disasters, supply chain disruption (SCD) and firm
financial performance in one framework. 2. Identify potentially influencing factors
and test if, and in which way, these influence the effect of hurricanes on stock
price. 3. Define a statistical model to evaluate the effect of hurricanes on stock
price. The main focus is on manufacturing firms.
Design/Methodology/Approach: This research is quantitative. The daily closing
value of 625 manufacturing companies that were listed on the NYSE between
2014 and 2018 was analysed. Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average
(ARIMA) was applied in combination with intervention analysis to model the stock
price time series. In total six deduced hypotheses were tested. The statistical
interruptions in stock prices due to hurricane announcements and hurricane
incident announcements were investigated. The method allowed estimation of
the magnitude and temporal patterns of change by applying transfer functions.
Multiple factors that potentially influence the magnitude or pattern of the stock
price reaction were tested, including details of damage.
Findings: Both hurricane incident announcements and hurricane
announcements negatively affect a firm’s stock price, mostly in the form of a
transitory change. Industry moderates the stock price reaction to hurricane
announcements. Minor supply chain disruptions are the only impacts resulting in
a positive reaction. Providing details on actual damage leads to less negative and
mostly positive reactions. Companies providing information on preventive
closures are unlikely to suffer a negative reaction.
Practical Implications: Hurricane risk needs to be actively managed by firms in
all sectors; however, the preparation needs to be sector-specific. Firms should
focus their efforts on managing supply chain disruptions. Additionally, firms need
to communicate in a transparent way to reduce shareholders’ uncertainty and
increase trust, so that the stock prices reactions are less negative.
Originality: This thesis provides a single framework connecting disasters, supply
chain disruptions and firm performance, thereby bridging supply chain
management and financial economics literature. The thesis evaluates the effect
of hurricane-induced supply chain disruptions for the first time. It does not analyse
just the effect of hurricane incident announcements but also hurricane
announcements and compares both. Autoregressive integrated moving average
(ARIMA) in combination with an intervention model was applied as an alternative
to the frequently used event study methodology. This approach is chosen to
evaluate the effect of hurricane announcements and hurricane incident
announcements on the daily stock price time series of the firms in scope. Longer
term effects can be evaluated, and the best fitting transfer functions are
assessed. The model accounts for autocorrelation, trend, seasonality, and drift
patterns. Additionally, the effect of the following potentially influencing factors was
tested as these have only been touched on in the existing literature so far: impact
type, impact extent, detailed damage, and preventive closure.PhD in Leadership and Managemen
A Hybrid Approach for The Design of Facility Location and Supply Chain Network Under Supply and Demand Uncertainty: A Systematic Review
Full text linkIn today’s extremely competitive marketplace, firms are facing the need to meet or
exceed increasing customer expectations while cutting costs to stay competitive in a
global market. To develop competitive advantage in this business climate, companies
must make informed decisions regarding their supply chain.
In recent years, supply chain networks have received increasing attention among
companies. The decision makers confront the network design problem in different
situations. In order to make decisions, especially in strategic supply chain
management, decision makers must have a holistic view of all the components.
Supply chain network design, particular facility location problems, is one of the most
complex strategic decision problems in supply chain management
The aim of this dissertation is to make an inquiry about the facility location problems
and related issues in supply chain and logistics management, and the use of modelling
approaches to solve these problems.
The methodology is to construct a review protocol by forming a review panel, and
developing a detailed search strategy with clear inclusion and exclusion criteria. In
addition, the measurement for evaluating the quality of studies is presented with a
strategy for extracting data and synthesising the methodologies.
The search results show the background of the facility location problems, the
importance and the basic questions of these problems. The taxonomy of facility
location problems with eighteen factors is presented. The basic static and
deterministic problems in facility location including the covering, centre, median and
fixed charge problems are discussed. Also, the extension of facility location problems
comprises of location-allocation, multi-objective, hierarchical, hub, undesirable and
competitive problems. In terms of uncertainty, dynamic, stochastic and robust facility
location problems are presented.
Finally, strengths and weaknesses of different modelling approaches are discussed;
importantly, gaps from the review process are indentified. Recommendations of
future research are described; and the facility location problem to be addressed by the
proposed research is shown. In addition, contributions of the proposed facility
location problem are illustrated
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Towards a contingent approach to procurement maturity: how procurement maturity models could support procurement strategic alignment.
Full text linkBourlakis, Michael - Associate SupervisorPurpose – Using a contingency lens, this research aims to understand how procurement
maturity models can support procurement strategic alignment, by exploring the two concepts
of procurement maturity and procurement strategic alignment in academia and practice.
Design/methodology/approach – Based on the initial findings from a systematic literature
review on procurement maturity and procurement strategic alignment, as well as exploratory
mini-cases to explore practitioners’ understanding of procurement maturity, this study
employs three in-depth case studies of a major aerospace & defence manufacturer, a water
services provider and a bank. This study employs both inductive and deductive approaches.
Inductive elements encompass the exploration of how contextual contingencies influence
procurement maturity. Deductive elements include the testing of hypotheses regarding the
structure and application of maturity models.
Findings – This research demonstrates that target maturity profiles (i.e. the desired maturity
level per topic) strongly resemble procurement category strategies in that they define a
forward plan for the category, covering multiple procurement topics and tactics. Target
maturity profiles are dependent on a number of contextual factors, including product-,
supplier-, category-, company- and industry-level contingencies. The research shows that
procurement maturity should be measured at a category level instead of a functional level and
using profiles with individual scores per topic instead of aggregate measures for the function
as a whole.
Research limitations/implications – This study makes a novel contribution by questioning the
premise that higher maturity levels are generally desirable, asserting instead that procurement
maturity targets are contingent upon the procurement categories’ context. It provides a new
contingency-maturity model that can be used by category managers to assess their
procurement maturity and define category strategies. This also provides directions for further
research, which should investigate how the ‘maturity gap’ between current and target
maturity profiles is related to performance.
Originality/value – This is the first research to challenge the general desirability of higher
maturity levels. Using a contingency lens, this research adds to the procurement maturity
literature by providing a new perspective on procurement maturity, focusing on contextual
contingencies. This research demonstrates that desirable procurement maturity levels are
dependent on contextual contingencies at different units of analysis (i.e. industry, company,
category, product, supplier and situational level).PhD in Leadership and Managemen
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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