Global engineering services: Shedding light on network capabilities

This paper addresses the operations challenges of effectively managing professional services on a global scale. The specific context for the study is professional engineering services and particularly those that are delivered globally – global engineering services (GES). Estimates suggest that the market for GES was around US$930 billion in 2012, rising to US$1.4 trillion by 2020 (ISG, 2013). Yet this influential sector receives scant attention in the operations management literature. The paper draws on six case studies to explore the operations management challenges of delivering GES. In doing so the paper introduces the concept of network capabilities for GES, highlighting the centrality that: (i) network resources – accessing and deploying dispersed resources, (ii) network coordination – coordinating and integrating network activities, and (iii) network learning – collective learning and knowledge management, all play in enabling the successful operational management of GES.     

Assessing the role of network topology in transportation network resilience

The abstract representation of a transportation system as a network of nodes and interconnecting links, whether that system involves roadways, railways, sea links, airspace, or intermodal combinations, defines a network topology. Among the most common in the context of transportation systems are the grid, ring, hub-and-spoke, complete, scale-free and small-world networks. This paper investigates the role of network topology, and the topology’s characteristics, in a transportation system’s ability to cope with disaster. Specifically, the paper hypothesizes that the topological attributes of a transportation system significantly affect its resilience to disaster events. Resilience accounts for not only the innate ability of the system to absorb externally induced changes, but also cost-effective and efficient, adaptive actions that can be taken to preserve or restore performance post-event. Comprehensive and systematically designed numerical experiments were conducted on 17 network structures with some relation to transportation system layout. Resilience of these network structures in terms of throughput, connectivity or compactness was quantified. Resilience is considered with and without the benefits of preparedness and recovery actions. The impact of component-level damage on system resilience is also investigated. A comprehensive, systematic analysis of results from these experiments provides a basis for the characterization of highly resilient network topologies and conversely identification of network attributes that might lead to poorly performing systems.     

Intangible resources of competitive advantage: Analysis of 49 Asian airlines across three business models

Without sustainable competitive advantage firms have limited economic reasons to exist and will decline. Competitive advantage concerns the factors which provide competitive strength. This paper is based upon the resource-based view which considers firm resources to be heterogeneous and which believes that firms only have a small bundle of core resources irrespective of their overall performance. This research establishes the role of 36 intangible resources for 49 Asian airlines across three business models: network airlines; low-cost subsidiaries from network airlines; and low-cost carriers. It uses the VRIN framework which examines whether resources are valuable, rare, inimitable, and non-substitutable. Research participants distribute points between their chosen seven resources according to their perceived role in firm performance. Resources which meet all four requirements of VRIN are considered core competences and sources of sustained advantage. Across all 49 Asian airlines, the top-three most important resources of advantage are slots, brand, and product/service reputation. While these core resources are predictable, they have not previously been proven within the context of airlines, let alone geographically and by airline model. Results show that the core bundle of resources vary for each model, which helps to explain the difference in performance across models, and that some resources which were expected to be high-ranking, such as organisational culture and customer focus, were not.     

A MIP model for locating slow-charging stations for electric vehicles in urban areas accounting for driver tours

In this paper we propose an improved mathematical model for locating EV charging stations. We consider the successive activities of the travelers, i.e., a person with two main stops during the day should charge the vehicle in just one of the parking spots, hence avoiding double counting the demand. The model is tested for the city of Coimbra (Portugal), where there is a network of nine stations. We conclude that our solution is better than the one that was implemented in reality, moreover we are able to conclude that demand transference has a rather significant impact on the solutions.     

How to inhibit a partner's strong and weak forms of opportunism: Impacts of network embeddedness and bilateral TSIs

This study investigates the moderating effects of a firm's network embeddedness and a partner's transactional specific investments (TSIs) on relationships between the firm's TSIs and its partner's strong- and weak-form opportunism, and compares the efficiency among these moderator variables. The regression results suggest that (1) a firm's TSIs are positively related to partner's opportunism when network embeddedness and the partner's TSIs are relatively low; but (2) a firm's TSIs are negatively related to partner's opportunism when network embeddedness and the partner's TSIs are relatively high. Furthermore (3) network embeddedness is more effective in inhibiting partner's weak-form opportunism than in inhibiting strong-form opportunism resulting from the firm's TSIs. Finally (4) with regard to the relationship between TSIs and weak-form opportunism, the negative moderating effect of network embeddedness is greater than the negative moderating effect of partner's TSIs. This study explains reasons why conflicting views exist about the relationship between TSIs and partner's opportunism, reveals the differences in the moderating effects of network embeddedness and partner's TSIs, and makes new contributions to both transaction cost theory and embeddedness literature. It also provides, for firms involved in TSIs in a buyer–supplier relationship, insightful managerial suggestions about ways to reduce their partner's varying forms of opportunism.     

Environmental factors influencing the management of key accounts in an Arab Middle Eastern context

Within the sales and marketing literature, it is recognised that a range of external factors can influence how companies in the business-to-business field manage business relationships within national and across international borders. However, there have been very few studies that explore the influence of the external environment on key account relationships, especially within the context of emerging economies. This study draws on the network approach and contingency theory to identify and highlight the influence of external environmental factors on the management of inter-organisational relationships with key customers in emerging economies in the Arab Middle East region. It is based on an extensive qualitative enquiry that utilises 50 in-depth semi-structured interviews conducted in Jordan with endogenous and Western firms. It concludes that key account practices within an Arab context are shaped by a number of contingencies that are embedded in broader institutional contexts and the business environment, which may challenge the adoption of company-wide universal key account management policies across borders.     

A network approach to modeling the multi-echelon spare-part inventory system with backorders and interval-valued demand

A multi-echelon inventory system implies the existence of a hierarchy of stocking locations, and the dependence and interaction between them. We consider a multi-echelon, spare-part inventory management problem with outsourcing and backordering. The problem is characterized by deterministic repair time/cost, and supply and demand that lie within prescribed intervals and that vary over time. The objective is to minimize the total inventory and transportation costs. We develop a network model for problem analysis and present a network flow algorithm for solving the problem. We prove that the Wagner-Whitin property, known for the lot-sizing problem, can be extended to the spare-part inventory management problem under study.     

网络经济下国际分工的演化及其经济机理研究

自20世纪中期以来,随着电子信息技术与电子商务的发展,互联网正成为国际贸易新的平台。随着网络经济的兴起,企业凭借网络平台跨越了时空对实际交易的束缚,交易范围扩大,交易成本减少,促使了国际分工继续深化,中间品贸易大量出现。本文将应用交易成本理论,对网络经济及电子商务背景下企业由垂直一体化向垂直分离化分工演进及其这种演进对国际贸易的影响进行分析。     

数字网络语音室的设计与布设

虚拟企业的合作伙伴大多来自不同的文化背景,跨文化管理是必然的趋势。对虚拟企业进行跨文化管理,要分析其成员的文化背景及组织内部结构特点,本着相互理解、宽容的态度,在虚拟企业内部建构团队文化,进行信任、沟通和冲突的及时管理,以利于虚拟企业的有效运作。     

基于TCP/IP的嵌入式WebServer网络测控系统设计

本文研究基于TCP/IP协议栈的嵌入式系统在网络智能设备中的测控应用设计。以Rabbit2000网络微处理器和Dynam ic C软件开发环境为例,阐述构建嵌入式W ebServer的具体技术及相关的实现方案;详细介绍了实现TCP、UDP报文进行网络通信、串行口数据通信和对网络智能设备的测控技术等,并给出系统硬件原理框图和有关软件实现的程序代码及流程图。