Business processes inter-operation for supply network co-ordination

In a global supply network, the overall improvement of operational efficiency and customer satisfaction can only be achieved through greater co-ordination and collaboration of all the network members. However, full benefits of close co-operation within a global supply network can only be achieved when the business processes of the individual companies can inter-operate. Currently available commercial solutions are inadequate in supporting full network co-ordination in terms of business process changes and technical arrangements. This paper proposes a system that aims to improve the co-ordination of production planning and control activities across the supply network. To achieve this, it is important to develop new business processes and principles for company collaboration and corresponding information systems. This process starts from the identification of business and system requirements, which underlie the general business solutions for network co-ordination, developing the guiding design principles and subsequent process design and system implementation.     

Business ecosystem strategies of mobile network operators in the 3G era: The case of China Mobile

In order to define the mobile network operators' strategies of building value network in the 3G era, this paper applies the ecosystem principles to the mobile industry through a China Mobile case study. Based on an analytical framework of such principles, this paper reviews China Mobile's ecosystem, and identifies its success factors and problems. The results indicate that a complete ecosystem, where mobile network operators collaborate closely with value-added service providers, content/application providers, equipment and device manufacturers, and other involved organizations, can promote the development of mobile data services substantially. Therefore, mobile network operators should play a central role in the ecosystem by managing the entire value-chain and setting up proper value-sharing mechanisms. However, while doing so, problems may arise because of regulatory issues and information asymmetry. High-value common assets, a centralized management system, partner selection schemes and continuous innovations are important success factors.     

Sheltering network planning and management with a case in the Gulf Coast region

This paper studies sheltering network planning and operations for natural disaster preparedness and responses with a two-stage stochastic program. The preparedness phase decides the locations, capacities and resources of new Permanent Shelters. Under each disaster scenario, both evacuees and resources are distributed to shelters in the response phase. To address the computational burden, the L-shaped algorithm is applied to decompose the problem into the scenario level with linear programs. A case study for hurricanes in the Gulf Coast region of the US is conducted to demonstrate the implementation of the proposed model.     

Business model innovation and decision making: uncovering mechanisms for coping with uncertainty

As a research subject, business model innovation spans the strategy, innovation, and entrepreneurship fields. Yet, despite the importance of the concept, prior work has paid little attention to how decision-makers cope with uncertainty and gain understanding about interdependencies in new business model configurations. To address this gap, we combine top-down theorising and evidence-based exploration and seek to unpack some of the coping mechanisms that operate in the evolutionary view of business model innovation. Using in-depth interviewing to collect data, our study reveals five strategies – customer centricity, value co-creation, capability evolution, ecosystem growth, and adaptive pricing – that decision-makers apply to cope with uncertainty in business model innovation. We find that coping mechanisms support decision making during the development of new business models. Furthermore, we find that the five coping strategies delineate decision making for value proposition, value creation, and value capture configurations in more detail than existing literature has described. Our findings have important implications for decision making in business model innovation.     

Can a margin squeeze indicate the need for deregulation? The case of fixed network voice telephony markets

In the beginning of fixed network liberalisation in Europe in the late 1990s, the main concern of regulators was to lower retail call prices. This was done by introducing wholesale regulation and promoting service-based competition. Some years later, the concern of some regulators turned from too high retail call prices to too low call prices, which might ‘squeeze’ entrants out of the market. This paper looks at a simple model in which this development is explained by increasing competitive pressure from an ‘outside opportunity’, most notably mobile telephony and cable. It is concluded that a margin squeeze is not necessarily used by the incumbent as a device to drive competitors out of the market and to increase market power but can also result from increased inter-modal competition. If this is the case, it is argued that the appropriate response would be deregulation or – under particular circumstances – a switch from cost-oriented access prices to alternatives such as retail-minus or capacity-based interconnection.     

Flow time and product cost estimation by using an artificial neural network (ANN): A case study for transformer orders

In electromechanical industrial corporations, determining the production cost of the orders according to the technical specifications demanded by the customer has great importance in giving an accurate price offer. Labor cost is one of the important and most variable cost components that must be estimated in order to give an accurate price offer. In this study, a feed-forward back-propagation artificial neural network (FF-BPN) is used to predict the flow times of power transformer orders of a transformer producer according to the technical specifications given by the customer. The results of this study show that the prediction capability of an artificial neural network is very good for this type of problem and results in better cost estimation than current company practice. A case study is carried out for a manufacturer of electrical transformers in Turkey.     

The emerging value network in the mobile phone industry: The case of Japan and its implications for the rest of the world

This paper considers how the mobile phone industry is changing from a value chain to a value network using the Japanese market as an example. Value networks involve a larger number of firms, a more complex set of relationships between them, and agreements on a greater number of interface standards than do value chains. Building from this concept of a value network, the paper shows how: (1) agreements on many of these interface standards are enabling connections to be made between the mobile phone and other industries; (2) the resulting products and services often reflect the technological capability of phones and the existing products and services in these “other” industries; (3) each new interface standard requires a new critical mass of users; and (4) a critical mass of users for a new interface standard partly builds from previously created critical masses of users. On a practical level, this paper's analysis adds to a growing list of evidence that the growth in Western mobile Internet markets is nowhere near its potential and that the change from a value chain to a value network requires a different form of standard setting, policy making, and management than are currently used in the mobile phone industry.     

Supply network capacity planning for semiconductor manufacturing with uncertain demand and correlation in demand considerations

A semiconductor supply network involves many expensive steps, which have to be executed to serve global markets. The complexity of global capacity planning combined with the large capital expenditures to increase factory capacity makes it important to incorporate optimization methodologies for cost reduction and long-term planning. The typical view of a semiconductor supply network consists of layers for wafer fab, sort, assembly, test and demand centers. We present a two-stage stochastic integer-programming formulation to model a semiconductor supply network. The model makes strategic capacity decisions, (i.e., build factories or outsource) while accounting for the uncertainties in demand for multiple products. We use the model not only to analyze how variability in demand affects the make/buy decisions but also to investigate how the correlation between demands of different products affects these strategic decisions. Finally, we demonstrate the value of incorporating demand uncertainty into a decision-making scheme.     

Optimal economic ordering policy with deteriorating items under different supplier trade credits for finite horizon case

This paper develops and solves a general finite horizon trade credit economic ordering policy for an inventory model with deteriorating items under inflation and time value of money when shortages are not allowed. The time horizon is divided into different cycles each of which has its own demand rate and its own trade credit period offered from the supplier to his retailer so that the retailer should pay his supplier before or after the end of the permissible trade credit of that cycle. Up to the end of the trade credit of a cycle, the retailer is free of charge, but he is charged on an interest for those items not being sold before this end. The retailer can also earn the interest of the money from the generated sales revenue in any cycle by depositing such revenue into an interest bearing account. The objective of the retailer is then to minimize his net total relevant costs. A closed form of this net total cost is derived and the resulting model is solved. Then rigorous mathematical methods are used to show that, under some seemingly possible conditions, there exist a unique vector of the relevant decision variables that solve the underlying inventory system. A numerical example which shows the applicability of the theoretical results is given.     

Technology roadmapping (TRM) and strategic alignment for an applied research centre: a case study with methodological contributions

Technology roadmapping provides a strategic tool to help companies develop an outside‐in view and challenge their current competitive perspectives. In this paper, the authors describe the roadmapping process, which is aligned, with the research and development (R&D) strategy of an applied research centre. This process is based in an adapted combination of state‐of‐the‐art methodologies, and as a result, the case study shows interesting findings in terms of R&D strategy, technology strategy and roadmapping processes and methodology.     

Indicators of technical intensity and international competitiveness: a case for supplementing quantitative data with qualitative studies in research*

The author provides evidence, derived from his own published research, to justify his claim that all the commonly used indicators of technical intensity of innovation suffer from severe limitations. The paper consists of a critique, as indicators of innovativeness, of increase of value-to-weight ratios of finished products, R&D expenditure, the number of QSEs employed, patent and licensing activity and the rate and direction of the flow of technology. He shows that technical change can increase value added-to-weight of a product but that differences in the ratio do not necessarily reflect different technical performance; that in-house formal R&D is not the only way in which technical change is brought about in a firm; that one must know not only how many QSEs are employed by a firm but also how they are distributed over the firm's operations; that patent and licensing information need very skilled interpretation to produce valid conclusions and that outward flow of technology, though perhaps a necessary criterion of innovativeness is not a sufficient one. The paper concludes with some suggestions for an alternative approach, the key to which is to combine quantitative data derived from the above indicators with qualitative in-depth studies of how innovation actually occurs in the economic sector under study.