Linking Order Fulfillment Performance to Referrals in Online Retailing: An Empirical Analysis

Referral management for online retailers is a strategically important activity, as referrals offer a highly cost‐effective method of customer acquisition. In fact, online customers mention referrals as the second‐most common reason for choosing to shop at a particular retailer, second only to search engine suggestions. However, while online retailers are able to improve their visibility on search engines through focused keyword insertions, they are often unable to pinpoint the drivers of referral behavior among their customers. The current research examines the relationship between two key dimensions of online retailing: order fulfillment cycle times and referral behavior. Employing a theory of customer appraisal and empirically testing the ensuing model using structural equation modeling, we find that excellent order fulfillment is instrumental in generating referrals for the online retailer, even after factoring in product quality.     

CONSUMER DIRECT FULFILLMENT PERFORMANCE IN INTERNET RETAILING: EMERGENCY TRANSSHIPMENTS AND DEMAND DISPERSION

The collaborative fulfillment of consumer orders by Internet retailers and wholesalers has proven important in the realization of sustainable levels of online profitability. Concentrating on consumer direct fulfillment (or drop shipping), an empirical simulation model evaluates avenues for improving logistical performance. The empirical simulation model centers on the online music CD retailing industry. It evaluates the effects of emergency transshipments and demand dispersion on inventory and product‐release performance, as well as on transportation costs, in consumer direct fulfillment operations. Results show that emergency transshipments improve inventory and product‐release performance in these operations. Furthermore, the inventory‐performance improvements are maximized when inventory facilities fulfill demand that is uniformly balanced across markets primarily assigned to each facility. Finally, gains in inventory and release performance obtained from emergency transshipments outweigh additional transportation costs incurred from a greater reliance on emergency transshipments for consumer direct fulfillment.     

Implementation of a System Approach for Enhanced Supply Chain Continuity and Resiliency: A Longitudinal Study

Researchers and practitioners frequently point to inventory as a necessary component of an effective supply chain strategy. However, an undisciplined or ineffective approach to inventory can have a detrimental impact on an organization and its entire supply chain. When making inventory decisions, firms must ensure that the selected approach “fits” the overall supply chain strategy. While such an assertion seems intuitive, there is a need for empirical validation. We seek to contribute to this important body of research by investigating the impact of improved strategic alignment of inventory on resiliency and continuity. More specifically, we investigate the impact of improved strategic fit by comparing two distinct approaches to inventory management within a service parts environment. We hypothesize that a well‐aligned approach to inventory management can enhance continuity and resiliency. We test these hypotheses via a longitudinal field study involving 10 United States Air Force (USAF) locations and two years of data (approximately 650,000 inventory transactions). Results from nine test locations and one control location suggest that a well‐aligned approach to inventory management is indeed effective in improving continuity and resiliency, thus enhancing service‐based strategies—in this case, the USAF's ability to be mission‐capable. While the results of the study are derived from the USAF, we believe the implications provide broader insight into the use of inventory as a means of realizing a strategic fit.     

The Role of Schedule Mismatch in Ending Inventory Decisions in the Presence of Price Cuts

In the high‐tech sector, component suppliers are often able to offer preannounced price cuts (price markdowns) to manufacturers due to technological innovation that allows them to produce the existing components at lower costs. In this context, manufacturers (buyers) are primarily concerned with their existing inventory carried beyond the price cuts in order to lower inventory costs. In this research, we develop a newsvendor‐based decision model for this problem based on our experience in industry and a focal case study environment. Specifically, we consider the issue of delivery and demand uncertainties, and the interplay of the buying firm's operating hours and the transportation carrier's delivery hours, which combine to influence inventory costs and order fulfillment. We illustrate the results with numerical examples and sensitivity analyses, using a real world data set. We found that stockout cost plays a critical role in the ending inventory decisions. Lowering stockout cost will benefit buyers from lower risk of obsolescence costs.     

我国企业预算控制存在的问题及应对措施

预算控制是现代企业一项重要的管理工具,是利用预算实施对行为和业绩的控制。在现代企业管理中,预算控制是大多数企业采用的一种方法。以既定的预算目标为依据,对企业生产经营活动进行有效的检查和监督,确保预算目标的实现。     

ABC Inventory Management Support System With a Clinical Laboratory Application

Many manufacturing and service organizations invest a large amount of capital in inventory. For this reason, it is important for inventory managers to reduce the costs associated with inventory. Firms that carry a variety of items require a classification system for the effective management of inventory. The ABC support system is a well-established inventory planning and control method that is used to manage different classes of inventory and reduce inventory costs concurrently. This paper presents a decision support system for ABC inventory management that can be used by managers to determine the efficiency of their inventory policies and to evaluate inventory decisions. The mathematical formulas to support inventory decisions are discussed. Since managers must manage in term of dollars, the quantitative tools are explained in terms suitable for management.     

INTERNET RETAILING INTERMEDIATION: A MULTILEVEL ANALYSIS OF INVENTORY LIQUIDITY AND FULFILLMENT GUARANTEES

Internet retailers intermediate online markets by setting prices, matching wholesalers' supply with consumers' demand, affording inventory liquidity, and meeting fulfillment guarantees to consumers. Little attention has been given to studying the two latter intermediation functions. To fill this research gap, this study examined a sample of 25 mainstream online retailers in some 704 transactions with consumers. The study evaluates the inventory liquidity and the fulfillment guarantees these Internet retailers provide to consumers. Furthermore, it presents a path‐analysis model, which suggests that retailers coordinate their actual and promised inventory‐liquidity and delivery performance to satisfy the fulfillment guarantees made to consumers. Moreover, the results show that key transactional attributes (i.e., the net price and the number of items fulfilled) commonly present in Internet markets and visible to all market participants impact both the levels of inventory liquidity and the delivery performance of the transactions between consumers and Internet retailers.     

试论全面预算管理在高校的应用

全面预算管理是先进、科学的管理方法,可以帮助管理者进行计划、协调、控制和业绩评价。高校应充分发挥全面预算管理的重要作用,有效实施对预算编制的内容与程序、执行与调整、评价体系及长期发展规划预算等方面的编制,并通过强化预算的监督、预警、控制、激励和考核职能的应用,使高校内部工作有机地协调起来,以确保学校既定的事业发展计划和战略的实现。     

The Implications of Mismatching Organizational Decision-making and Communication Structures within US Retail Firms: the Role of Scanner Data

Scanner data processed in an efficient manner can provide retail organizations with a powerful managerial tool that can be used to support corporate buyers' merchandising decisions, manage inventory, provide retail sales support, and evaluate individual store performance. In the light of such potential, we examine how the distribution of scanner-generated information interacts with the locus of decision-making authority and affects the relationship between corporate buyers and store managers. We suggest that to avoid potential intra-firm conflicts between the corporate and store levels, the communication structure within an organization should be matched with a decision-making structure that shares a similar level of decentralization.     

Optimal and Approximate Policies for Inventory Systems With Order Crossover

A common assumption in inventory analysis is that replenishment orders arrive in the same sequence in which they were placed. In practice, however, a variety of factors may cause orders to arrive out of sequence, a phenomenon known as order crossover. This article analyzes a periodic‐review inventory system for a single item with discrete variable demand and discrete variable and long lead‐times (relative to the review period). Under such a scenario, multiple orders are simultaneously outstanding, and orders may arrive in a different sequence than placed. If such order crossover occurs, traditional inventory analysis overstates expected shortages and standard inventory control policies are no longer optimal. This article discusses why orders may cross over in practice and investigates the implications of order crossover to inventory management policies. We investigate the cost performance of optimal policies under order crossover and also suggest approximate policies which are easier to compute and implement. Both the optimal and approximate policies take advantage of detailed real‐time information about the status of pending orders and goods in transit, and hence in a majority of cases perform better than commonly used policies which do not incorporate such information.     

动态平衡计分卡在服务性行业中的应用研究

为了解决服务企业中的短视行为,帮助服务业企业进行有效的绩效管理和战略管理,鉴于服务性行业中服务利润链和平衡计分卡的相关性,把平衡计分卡这一工具引入到服务行业中。同时,考虑到平衡计分卡以往实施过程中的动态不足性,运用系统动力学工具,为服务性企业建立动态的平衡计分卡仿真模型,对不同时期的各种外部和内部环境的变化做出模拟观察,进行长期和短期的比较,从而为企业的决策提供数量化的依据,动态地支持企业的绩效管理以及战略管理。     

SUPPLY CHAIN INFORMATION SHARING IN A VENDOR MANAGED INVENTORY PARTNERSHIP

Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) involves the vendor making the replenishment decision for products supplied to a customer based on various inventory and supply chain policies. Information sharing between supply chain members is required in VMI. Sometimes VMI decisions are delayed and/or the information shared is inaccurate. This research examines the effects of information delay and accuracy, and the sharing of sales and forecast information in a VMI environment facing stationary and nonstationary demand. The simulation experiments show the impact of information delay, information inaccuracy, and information sharing on a variety of performance measures, including inventory levels and fill rates.     

Measures of strategic alliance performance,classified and assessed

Over the last three decades, strategic alliance performance has been an important research topic within the international business and management fields. Researchers have investigated a number of factors explaining performance but often find diverging results. Scholars have suggested that one reason may be that different performance measures are used as the dependent variable. But which differences exist and how can they matter? Against this backdrop, the present study makes three main contributions. First, we identify dimensions that illustrate differences and similarities between performance measures and provide a simple yet comprehensive classification of the different performance measures used in 167 empirical studies in the literature. Second, we suggest how differences in performance measures may influence construct validity under different circumstances. Third, we show that the differences have empirical implications for the results researchers get when using the measures. The study implications serve to improve researchers’ ability to choose performance measures that are appropriate in a given situation and to help them assess the influence the choice of performance measure may have on tests of hypotheses regarding antecedents’ influence on performance.     

Strategic planning and performance: Extending the debate

This article extends the debate regarding the relationship between strategic planning and performance. It addresses criticism of previous empirical studies that have largely investigated direct and bi-variate relationships, producing equivocal results. The current study investigates the mediating effects of four types of flexibility on the strategic planning and performance relationship. Flexibility is defined as the extent to which new and alternative decisions are generated and considered in strategic planning, allowing for positive organizational change and adaptation to environmental turbulence. Through investigating simultaneous equations in a structural equation model, we find that two types of flexibility mediate the relationship between strategic planning and financial performance, while the other two types mediate the relationship between strategic planning and non-financial performance. The results are new empirical insights that have not been previously reported.     

基于供应链管理的制造型企业库存优化研究与实践——以AIP公司库存管理优化为例

库存不仅占用流动资金,增加储运成本,而且还会带来诸如安全、变质、贬值等一系列风险.因此,如何科学地削减库存总量,保持合理的库存水平,实现企业低成本运营,一直是企业界所关注的热点问题.鉴于此,本研究在全面库存管理思想的指导下,分析了AIP公司的库存管理现状,通过加强物流管理、改善内部供应链、扩大信息共享范围等手段,解决了库存量偏高和库存结构不合理问题,实现了优化库存总量、降低经营成本和提高市场竞争力等企业目标,并据此提出库存管理内容和模式的一些创新观点,从技术层面找到了普遍适用的库存管理与控制的有效措施,以期对制造型企业的库存管理有借鉴意义.     

再造我国家电企业的战略管理

家电业要走出“价格战”的怪圈,必须解决好“战略管理缺失”的问题。在此基础上再造我国家电企业的战略管理,需要认识战略决策的层次性,形成全方位的有效衔接;认识战略决策的适应性,善于应对变革和协调、平衡;依据战略要求及时调整组织结构,以战略和竞争优势为导向营造、调适企业文化。     

Strategic hybrid orientation between market orientation and brand orientation: guiding principles

Strategic orientations underpin the firm’s managerial decisions and influence its performance. Firms can combine multiple strategic orientations to achieve superior performance. Market orientation and brand orientation are well-developed, separate, strategic approaches. A 2013 study conceptually proposed a strategic hybrid orientation comprising two types: (a) market and brand orientation and (b) brand and market orientation. The current study is qualitative, using small-to-medium enterprises to investigate strategic hybrid orientations. Through propositions, the paper explains the theory and processes underlying the two hybrid orientation types. The propositions form the guiding principles for the strategic management of the hybrid orientation. The implications for managerial practice show that quite different capabilities apply to the execution of each strategic hybrid type.     

集成化物流战略层协同管理实现机理研究

集成化物流是一种新型的物流资源整合方式，而战略层作为集成化物流的最高层次，其协同管理的实现决定着集成化物流协同管理实现的方式与方向。文章以探讨集成化物流战略层协同管理的实现机理为主线，利用专家评分方法，分析战略价值、核心能力、资源互补性、企业文化相容度、利益分配机制、合作伙伴关系六个关键参量对战略层协同管理实现的影响；通过运用粗糙集理论的简约集运算方法，得出“战略价值、企业文化相容度”是战略层协同管理的序参量。借助于双序参量自组织模型，发现在“竞争→协作”“协作→协调”相变阶段，“战略价值”是主导力量，“企业文化相容度”是辅助力量；而在“协调→协同”阶段，则反之。研究结果不仅在理论层面丰富了物流供应链协同管理研究方面的文献，而且为物流资源整合提供了一种新的管理理论研究思路。     

Strategic intent and performance: The role of resource allocation decisions

The notion that a firm's strategic intent can affect its performance through managerial actions has become prominent in the organization literature. In this research, we propose that strategic aggressive firms will foster decisions that favor holding low levels of slack and low levels of R&D investments, resulting in increased firm ROI, and that a firm's risk preference will moderate the indirect effect of strategic intent on performance. Findings from moderated mediation analyses on data from 130 firms in manufacturing industries support our hypotheses. Specifically, the indirect effect of a firm's strategic intent on a firm's performance is moderated by its risk aversion, such that when risk aversion is high, the indirect effect of strategic intent on performance through slack is strengthened. Similarly, the indirect effect of strategic intent on firm performance through R&D investments is strengthened, when risk aversion is high.     

Technology revenue management system for customer groups in hotels

This paper discusses revenue management; a technique that focuses on decision making that will maximize profit from the sale of perishable inventory units. New technologies management plays an important role in the development of revenue management techniques. Each new advancement in technology management leads to more sophisticated revenue business capabilities. Today decision support revenue management systems and technologies management are crucial factors for the success of businesses in service industries. This paper addresses the specific case of customer groups in hotels. This paper introduces a new decision support system that sets the revenue maximization criteria for a hotel. The aforementioned system includes a set of demand forecasting methods for customers and addresses a general case considering individual guests and customer groups. The system also incorporates deterministic and stochastic mathematical programming models that help to make the best decisions. The actual revenue depends upon which reservation system the hotel uses. A simulation engine makes a comparison between different heuristics of room inventory control: the results include performance indexes such as occupancy rate, efficiency rate, and yield; it compares results and chooses one of them. The system proves its suitability for actual cases by testing against actual data and thus becoming an innovative and efficient tool in the management of hotels' reservation systems.