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Disruptive Technologies
-- A Srikant
The
article addresses disruptive technologies that most successful
companies will face eventually. It describes how a particular
industry responds to the innovation brought in by disruptive
technologies. The write-up describes the chronological order
of evolutionary changes in various industries, the dilemma
being faced by the innovators and solution for this precarious
situation. It distinguishes between the sustainable development
and disruptive technologies. Most importantly it describes
how the disruptive technologies are to be managed in view
of the emergence of competition
A
case study on the Mobile Internet industry included in it,
gives a practical overview of what is happening in this regard.
It gives the basic overview of the mobile Internet and the
implication for the content providers, retailers and manufacturers.
© IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Supply
Chain Analysis : Quality and Maturity Perspective
-- Arnab
Banerjee
Supply
Chain as a concept is being highly recognized to gain business
advantage. This paper comes up with various parameters to
decide the quality of a supply chain. It gives a matrix to
help settle upon the status of the quality of supply chain
and few critical factors, which are not measurable mathematically,
but has always to be checked and coordinated for a good hold
on the performance aspect of the supply chain. A need for
maturity model was felt which describes the current standing
of the existing supply chain in the business arena and becomes
a guide map for direction to the supply chain enhancement.
© IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Logistics
Function: Some Perspectives
-- Jayasimha
KR, Niranjan Swain and Braj Mohan Chaturvedi
Since
inception of the industrial era logistics existed in one form
or the other. The journey of the logistics from farm-to-market
era logistics to total integration of logistics has gone through
various phases of development. 1990s saw the emergence of
a total integrator logistics function i.e., concept of supply
chain management. The future agenda is to create a platform
where everyone would view supply chain as a single entity,
which converges all the capabilities as well as share risks.
The article discusses the evolution of logistics function
and looks into the future agenda for Supply Chain Management,
a post totalintegration phenomenon.
© IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Factors
of Supply Chain Management and Supply Chain Performance Relationships:
A Systems Approach :
--Shams-ur
Rahman
Effective
and efficient management of supply chains offers a means of
gaining competitive advantage in a business environment which
is characterised by fierce competition and uncertainty. To
date most of the studies conducted to understand different
issues of supply chain management are generally quantitative.
In this study a qualitative method known as thinking process
(TP) was applied to identify critical factors of effective
supply chain management, determine the causal relationships
between these factors and investigates their interrelationship
with supply chain performance
The
study was conducted in a group-based model building environment
with a group of students who specialised either in logistics
management or e-commerce. The results suggest that understanding
the dynamic nature of supply chain through causal relationships
is critical to the formulation of supply chain strategies.
©
Shams-ur Rahman. Reprinted with permission.
Development
of an Operational Parameter Measuring System
-- Antonio
N de Miranda Filho* and Emílio Araújo Menezes
In
search of a more comprehensive view of construction processes'
true problems, this paper proposes an Operational Parameter
Measuring System based on the principles of Lean Production.
By measuring waste, activity rating, cycle time and cost,
the system aims to provide accurate information to site management
so that actions can be taken to correct the identified problems
or to reestablish the process on its course
In
order to adapt Lean Production to construction peculiarities,
a bridge was built between traditional practices and new developments.
The Measuring System is in this way based on the integration
of Activity Sampling and Activity Based Costing principles.
The combination of both tools made it possible for the system
to be conceived on the principles of focusing control on the
complete process, increasing process transparency and building
continuous improvement into the process
The
application of the Measuring System on the masonry process
in a construction site during a period of 15 days allowed
for the combined processing and information analysis of the
performance measurements. This procedure pointed out opportunities
for improvement and led to important conclusions about the
influence of labor allocation on the increase of product costs
and the occurrence of waste.
©
Antonio N de Miranda Filho and Emílio Araújo
Menezes, www.cpgec.ufrgs.br. Reprinted with permission.
Linking
Operations and Profitability
-- Alastair
Nicholson
Profitability
is often missing in the defining of `value' in Operations
Management literature. In practice, it is obligatory for business
survival. Following the earlier focus of operations on cost
reduction, attention moved to market relationships and the
development of new systems. Neither of these directly relate
to profitability measures. This paper argues for accepting
the role of `operations' in serving both business requirements
and operational processes independently and a key role of
`Operations Management' as linking business outcomes and operational
initiatives through profitability.
©
Alastair Nicholson. Reprinted with permission.position is
supported by illustration from a case study and results from
a business simulation.
Risks
and Prevention Measures in Logistics Outsourcing
-- Chuanxu
Wang* and Amelia C Regan
Many
firms have turned to logistics outsourcing as a way to restructure
their distribution networks and gain competitive advantages.
Logistics outsourcing in which a third party logistics (3PL)
provider is contracted for all or part of an organization's
logistics operations has seen consistently increasing use.
Although there are clearly pros and cons of using logistics
outsourcing, the full extent of both of these has not been
adequately examined. This paper begins to examine some of
these risks and discusses risk prevention measures.
©
Chuanxu Wang and Amelia C Regan. www.its.uci.edu. Reprinted
with permission.
Book
Summary
Six-Sigma?
-- Debanjan Bhattacharya
SixSigma
is a business process that allows companies to drastically
improve their bottom line by designing and monitoring everyday
business activities in a way that minimizes waste and resources
while increasing customer satisfaction. While traditional
quality control programs have focused on detecting and correcting
defects, Six-Sigma encompasses something broader. Most companies
operate at a three or four sigma level, where the cost of
defect is roughly 20 to 30% of revenues. By approaching six
sigmaless than one defect per 3.4 million opportunitiesthe
cost of quality drops to less than 1% of sales. Industries
are desperate to find new ways to buoy profitability. That
is the reason why the companies as diverse as AlliedSignal,
GE, Sony, Honda, Bombardier, Canon, Hitachi and Polaroid have
adopted six-sigma. Six-Sigma produces superior financial results,
using business strategies that not only review companies but
also help them leapfrog ahead of their competition in terms
of market share and profitability. |
