Policies for managing peak stock of food grains for effective distribution: A case of the Indian food program

The Indian food program has encountered a significant shortfall in storage due to slow expansion of storage facilities in comparison with procurement. The open storage of food grains results in substantial loss and deterioration of quality. While increasing storage capacity is a viable but costly and time consuming option, the adoption of policies for peak storage reduction would go a long way towards effective food grains management. On this background, this study proposes policy adoption for peak storage reduction for effective inventory management. A dynamic simulation model was built by replicating the complex flow process and incorporating the process variability for finding the bottleneck and significant factors. It was found that steep wheat procurement is the critical bottleneck factor for peak storage requirements. Two practical and straightforward, yet effective policies are proposed from the few existing strategies for peak storage reduction owing to the constraints associated with the food program. With the actual data of the food program, reduction in peak stock was estimated for the recommended policies, including the operational cost saving in storage. The practical implications of these policies within the system were also discussed. Through peak reduction, the use of open storage can be significantly reduced, and this leads to better food grains management for effective food distribution.     

供应链视角下餐饮O2O模式的配送路径优化

O2O最后一公里配送往往需要综合考虑时间和成本的关系,研究平台对订单的分配和路径优化对提升O2O供应链的整体效率和产业链升级具有十分重要的意义。从餐饮商家和O2O平台两个主要参与者出发对物流配送系统进行研究,提出了适合于O2O餐饮供应链的配送网络,并考虑道路阻塞、最大里程数等约束,搭建了上层模型最短时间、下层模型最低成本的双层规划模型,进而通过NSGA-Ⅱ算法求得可行解,最后验证了算法的可行性,为进一步研究O2O配送提供了新的解决思路。     

Fertility and maternal labor supply in Japan: Conflicting policy goals?

Using panel data on Japanese mothers, this paper estimates the impact of fertility on maternal labor supply using twins as an instrument for the total number of children. We find that having twins actually has a longer term positive impact on maternal labor force participation in Japan. To understand this result, we present evidence that the effects of age and cost of children can generate this finding, are particularly salient in Japan and differ in important ways between twins and non-twin families of the same size. Implications for fertility and labor supply policy in Japan are discussed.     

产业融合发展、农产品供需结构与农业供给侧改革核心探寻

在农产品价格保护制度背景下,不能完成产业融合会限制产业之间的关联效应发挥,导致农产品供需反馈机制瓦解,从而使农产品供需结构出现矛盾。因此,需要对产业融合发展、农产品供需结构以及农业供给侧改革核心进行研究。论文从产业融合发展的必要性、产业融合发展与农产品供需结构之间的形成机理出发进行分析,探讨在新形势下,产业融合发展与农业供给侧改革的选择策略,从而创新我国的农业经营体系,构建完善的农业社会化服务体系,推动我国农业供给侧结构性改革的进一步发展。     

What drives managers to insource production? Evidence from a behavioural experiment

Insourcing to countermand previous outsourcing decisions is becoming a widespread practice among firms. While the underlying performance drivers for firms (e.g., lead times, responsiveness, or security of supply) are well understood, the behavioural aspects underlying managerial decision-making processes regarding insourcing remain overlooked in empirical research. We study the effects of managers' attitudes toward insourcing, their perceived behavioural control (PBC) over the respective insourcing decision, and the effect of mimetic pressure on insourcing decision intentions and behaviour, while grounding our model in the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). We test hypotheses with data gathered in a vignette-based experiment among 145 managers and apply stepwise regression analysis to find support for the positive effects of attitude and mimetic pressure on intentions to insource. Our results found no support for the effect of managers’ PBC. We find moderation effects among the internal drivers (attitude and PBC) and between internal and external drivers (attitude and mimetic pressure) on insourcing behaviour. With these findings, we provide evidence of a unique boundary condition to the TPB in the insourcing context by explaining supply chain design choices with neo-classical and behavioural theory. We emphasize important behavioural aspects in insourcing decision-making and caution supply managers in this regard.     

Linking sustainable business models and supply chains — Toward an integrated value creation framework

Extant literature on sustainable business models highlights that value creation stems from resources exchanged in relationships between a focal firm and its stakeholders. In this context, the literature has, so far, focused on direct relationships. However, despite the acknowledged relevance of sustainability issues in supply chains, this relational view of the focal company and its direct stakeholders has not been extended toward value creation for and with indirect stakeholders, such as stakeholders of suppliers. Addressing this gap, this conceptual article integrates a relational view of sustainable supply chain management into the management of sustainable business models. It extends the scope of sustainable business models from relationships between the focal firm and its direct stakeholders to indirect relationships with stakeholders of suppliers. A framework is developed that supports analysis and management of value-creating relationships between the focal firm, suppliers, and stakeholders of suppliers. By extending the conceptualization of sustainable business models to consider relationship chains beyond direct relationships, this article proposes that a focal firm has to actively manage interactions both with suppliers and with suppliers' stakeholders.     

Dynamic decision and coordination in a low-carbon supply chain considering the retailer's social preference

We establish dynamic game models in a low-carbon supply chain consisting of a single manufacturer and a single retailer with social preference. This study investigates the complex dynamic characteristics of pricing decision and carbon abatement strategy in the supply chain and focuses on the impact of the retailer's social preference on pricing decision, carbon emission abatement strategy, profits, supply chain coordination, and complexity of dynamic models. We find that adjustment parameters of pricing and carbon emission abatement should be maintained in a certain range; otherwise, the system will be unstable and even chaotic through period double bifurcation or wave shape chaos. A higher social preference of the retailer is always beneficial to carbon abatement and the manufacturer and helps maintain the stability of the supply chain system. However, the impact on the long-term profitability of the supply chain is related to the state of the system. Compared with the setting of a centralized decision, the optimal carbon abatement strategy and supply chain profit in a decentralized decision are always less than those in a centralized setting, regardless of whether the retailer has social preference. Therefore, a side-payment self-executing contract is designed to coordinate the supply chain and achieve Pareto improvement. The coordination mechanism proposed in this study not only leads to Pareto improvement but also increases the stability of the supply chain system. Finally, this study enlightens management in operating a low-carbon supply chain.     

Green multi-tier supply chain management: An enabler investigation

Stakeholder pressure, from actors including regulators, consumers and non-governmental organizations, has made organizations more responsible for poor environmental performance of their direct and sub-suppliers. Thus, green multi-tier supplier management (GMSM) has become an emergent topic. Yet it is still unclear how to enable GMSM practices effectively, i.e. how to enable sub-suppliers' environmental performance improvement. To help address the gap in the literature, this paper aims to identify enablers for sub-suppliers' environmental performance improvement, and it further applies a Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL)-based case study method to evaluate inter-relationships among these enablers and improve the focal company's GMSM practices, by using action research (AR) method principles. The data analysis and discussion with a follow-up evaluation after two years provided insights for the successful implementation of GMSM. The results show that top managers’ support from the organizations is a prominent and necessary foundational enabler. An interesting observation is that close proximity of supply chain members is regarded as a very prominent enabler. Evaluation and feedback on these enablers two years later found that the enabler mapping was beneficial, allowing them to address the most influential enablers, and thus the GMSM practices of the focal company has been highly improved. This paper concludes with directions for further research.     

土地供给管制与城市住房用地供给错配 ——基于2009—2015年中国城市面板数据的分析

研究目的：分析政府土地供给管制行为对城市住房用地供给错配的影响。研究方法：从土地供应中地方动机、中央规制与市场力量相互动的政治经济学角度进行理论分析，并基于2009—2015年105个重点城市的面板数据进行实证检验。研究结果：（1）城市商住用地供应受地方财政赤字压力的影响，在具备高房价支撑基础的城市，地方采取“饥饿式”供地策略实现其土地财政目标，反之，则通过扩大土地供应量来实现增收目标。（2）在地方差异化供地策略的实施下，偏向中西部和中小城市的新增建设用地配额正向影响城市商住用地出让规模，未考虑城市异质性的住房用地供应调控政策在地方遭遇机会主义执行。研究结论：土地供应错配根源于财政激励下地方政府基于不同市场条件的差异化供地策略的运用；中央地区偏向的土地配额管理和“一刀切”的土地供应调控亦带来住房用地供给错配的意外之果。