bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
CAPACITY AND PRODUCTION DECISIONS IN STOCHASTIC MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS: AN ASYMPTOTIC OPTIMAL HIERARCHICAL APPROACH
Authors: SETHI SURESH P. , TAKSAR MICHAEL I. , ZHANG QING 
Published: August 2010

We present a new paradigm of hierarchical decision making in production planning and capacity expansion problems under uncertainty. We show that under reasonable assumptions, the strategic level management can base the capacity decision on aggregated information from the shopfloor, and the operational level management, given this decision, can derive a production plan for the system, without too large a loss in optimality when compared to simultaneous determination of optimal capacity and production decisions. The results are obtained via an asymptotic analysis of a manufacturing system with convex costs, constant demand, and with machines subject to random breakdown and repair. The decision variables are purchase time of a new machine at a given fixed cost and production plans before and after the purchase. The objective is to minimize the discounted costs of investment, production, inventories, and backlogs. If the rate of change in machine states such as up and down is assumed to be much larger than the rate of discounting costs, one obtains a simpler limiting problem in which the random capacity is replaced by its mean. We develop methods for constructing asymptotically optimal decisions for the original problem from the optimal decisions for the limiting problem. We obtain error estimates for these constructed decisions.
MANUFACTURING STRATEGY AND BUSINESS ORIGIN OF NEW VENTURE FIRMS IN THE COMPUTER AND COMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT INDUSTRIES
Authors: MCDOUGALL PATRICIA P. , DEANE RICHARD H. , D'SOUZA DERRICK E. 
Published: August 2010

With the use of questionnaire data from owners, presidents, CEOs, and chairmen of boards and a logistic regression approach, we analyzed the manufacturing strategies of 64 new‐venture firms in the computer and communications equipment manufacturing industries. We found statistically significant differences in manufacturing posture as a function of whether the new venture was corporate‐sponsored or independent (i.e., new venture origin). The findings suggest that independent firms attack the market with superior product quality with the use of technology in the public domain. They offer a narrow range of products directed to a few large customers and do not make developing new products a primary issue. In contrast, corporate‐sponsored tirms are less concerned with superior product quality but emphasize patented technology and new product development. They provide a broader range of products and service smaller customer orders.
INTEGRATION IN MANUFACTURING: AN INFORMATION THEORETIC PERSPECTIVE
Authors: HSU CHENG , RATTNER LAURIE 
Published: August 2010

Integration is a buzzword in manufacturing strategies for global competitiveness. However, some fundamental questions have yet to be answered scientifically; namely, what is integration, why integrate, and what should be integrated? How do existing integration models approach the problems of integration and to what extent are they successful? A theory‐based model of information requirements for integrated manufacturing is needed to answer these questions properly. Such a model can unify hitherto narrowly defined and domainoriented approaches. We suggest a paradigm of parallel formulation and use it to formulate the information requirements for integration, including data and knowledge classes, decision spaces, and logical interactions.
UNDERSTANDING THE IMPORTANT DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE MALCOLM BALDRIGE NATIONAL QUALITY AWARD AND ISO 9000 REGISTRATION
Authors: REIMANN CURT W. , HERTZ HARRY S. 
Published: August 2010

Market globalization, higher requirements for improved quality, and tough, faster‐pace, price‐sensitive competition have led to two parallel and visible quality thrust: the Baldrige Award in the U.S. and, internationally, the ISO 9000 standards. The relationship between the Baldrige Award and ISO 9000 registration is widely confused. Two common misper‐ceptions stand out: (1) that they both cover the same requirements and (2) that they both address improvement, relying on high quality results, and thus, are both forms of recognition. Many have concluded that the Baldrige Award and ISO 9000 are equivalent and that companies should choose one or the other. These conclusions are incorrect. The Baldrige Award and ISO 9000 registration differ fundamentally in focus, purpose, and content. The focus of the Baldrige Award is on enhanced competitiveness. The Award Criteria reflect two key competitiveness thrusts: (1) delivery of ever‐improving value to customers and (2) improvement of overall operational performance. The Award's central purpose is educational‐to encourage sharing knowledge and experience of competitiveness and to drive this learning, creating an evolving fund of knowledge. By contrast, the focus of ISO 9000 registration is on conformity to practices specified in the registrant's own quality systems. Its central purpose is to enhance and facilitate trade. The Baldrige Award addresses competitiveness factors either not addressed in ISO 9000 registration or addressed differently. These factors include a customer and market focus, results orientation, continuous improvement, competitive comparisons, a tie to business strategy, cycle time and responsiveness, integration via analysis, public responsibility, human resource development, and information sharing. Overall, ISO 9000 registration covers less than 10% of the scope of the Baldrige Award Criteria and does not fully address any of the 28 Criteria items. As a result, the national drive to improve competitiveness could be diminished. Companies required to or electing to seek ISO 9000 registration are encouraged to integrate their conformity efforts with the Baldrige Award competitiveness improvement framework.
SOURCES OF STRESS IN AN AUTOMATED PLANT
Authors: KARUPPAN CORINNE M. , SCHNIEDERJANS MARC J. 
Published: August 2010

Computer‐integrated manufacturing implementation is often hindered by human resource issues like stress. By focusing on one type of potential human obstacle to the integration of islands of automation in our exploratory case study, we examine the sources of stress and the lack of job control experienced in three functional departments: computer‐aided design and manufacturing, manufacturing planning and control, and computer numerical control/robot manufacturing; we also suggest management interventions to alleviate stress in each group of workers. We used three methods to collect data: self‐reporting, observation at the job level, and physiological screening. Our results indicated little difference in stress levels among the three groups. However, we found that each group faced a different set of pressures and exercised different levels of control over their jobs. We suggest specific managerial action to overcome the most critical pressures.
MADE IN THE WORLD: THE GLOBAL SPREAD OF PRODUCTION
Authors: Ferdows Kasra 
Published: August 2010

We are moving rapidly into an age of transnational manufacturing, where things made in one country are shipped across national borders for further work, storage, sales, repair, remanufacture, recycle, or disposal; but our laws, policies, and management practices are slow in adjusting to this reality. They are often based on inaccurate premises. This article examines these premises and suggests what they imply for management of manufacturing. First, a common view is that manufacturing investment in the industrialized nations is declining and shifting to the developing countries. This is not true. Investment in manufacturing in both industrialized and developing nations is increasing and, in absolute value, there is a lot more investment in industrialized countries than in developing countries. Second, a related view argued by many is that manufacturing does not have a bright future in the rich countries. I argue that manufacturers can thrive in the industrialized countries if they learn how to add more value for the end users. They must go beyond productivity improvement to producing more technologically advanced and customized products, responding faster to changing customer demands, and appending more services to their products. Doing all this is easier in the industrialized countries because the needed skills and infrastructure are more readily available there. Third, another potentially misleading notion is related to why companies invest in manufacturing abroad. Access to low‐cost production is not the main motivation in most cases; rather it is access to market. Superior global manufacturers use their foreign factories for much more: to serve their worldwide customers better, preempt competitors, work with sophisticated suppliers, collect critical marketing, technological, and competitive intelligence, and attract talented individuals into the company. They build integrated global production networks, not collections of disjointed factories that are spread internationally. Thus their investment in manufacturing abroad is not a substitute for investment at home, it is a complement. Building and managing such integrated global factor networks is the next challenge in manufacturing.
UPSTREAM VOLATILITY IN THE SUPPLY CHAIN: THE MACHINE TOOL INDUSTRY AS A CASE STUDY
Authors: ANDERSON EDWARD G. , FINE CHARLES H. , PARKER GEOFFREY G. 
Published: August 2010

Cyclicality is a well‐known and accepted fact of life in market‐driven economies. Less well known or understood, however, is the phenomenon of amplification as one looks “upstream” in the industrial supply chain. We examine the amplification phenomenon and its implications through the lens of one upstream industry that is notorious for the intensity of the business cycles it faces: the machine tool industry. Amplification of demand volatility in capital equipment supply chains, e. g., machine tools, is particularly large relative to that seen in distribution and component parts supply chains. We present a system dynamics simulation model to capture demand volatility amplification in capital supply chains. We explore the lead‐time, inventory, production, productivity, and staffing implications of these dynamic forces. Several results stand out. First, volatility hurts productivity and lowers average worker experience. Second, even though machine tool builders can do little to reduce the volatility in their order streams through choice of forecast rule, a smoother forecasting policy will lead companies to retain more of their skilled work force. This retention of skilled employees is often cited as one of the advantages that European and Japanese companies have had relative to their U. S. competitors. Our results suggest some insights for supply chain design and management: downstream customers can do a great deal to reduce the volatility for upstream suppliers through their choice of order forecast rule. In particular, companies that use smoother forecasting policies tend to impose less of their own volatility upon their supply base and may consequently enjoy system‐wide cost reduction.
REVISITING ALTERNATIVE THEORETICAL PARADIGMS IN MANUFACTURING STRATEGY
Authors: Safizadeh M. H. , Ritzman Larry P. , Mallick Debasish 
Published: August 2010

Testing and cross‐validation of theories and paradigms are necessary to advance the field of manufacturing strategy. When the findings of one study are also obtained in other studies, using entirely different databases, we become more confident in the results. Replication alleviates concerns about spurious results and is one motivation for this study. We examine aspects of the tradeoffs concept, production competence paradigm, and a manufacturing strategy taxonomy framework. In regard to the tradeoffs concept, we found evidence of tradeoffs between some, but certainly not all, manufacturing capabilities of quality, cost, delivery, and customization. The relationships get sharper when controlling for process choice. For example, the tradeoff between cost and customization is particularly strong between plants that have different process choices. We find that such tradeoffs can change, or even disappear, however, once the process choice is in place. With respect to the production competence paradigm, our analysis shows a statistically significant correlation between production competence and operations performance in batch shops, but not in plants with other process choices. Finally, using variables similar to those of Miller and Roth, our data produced three similar clusters even though their unit of analysis was much more macro than ours. Controlling for process choice is consistent with the current manufacturing strategy literature that emphasizes dynamic development of capabilities within the context of path dependencies. A major argument of this strand of research is that operations decisions not only affect current capabilities, but also set the framework for development of capabilities in the future. That being the case, controlling for process choice (or other factors such as industry or markets) should contribute to the understanding of capability‐development paths adopted by different manufacturing plants. In short, we found at least partial support for each of the theories examined here, even though the theories seem on the surface to be contradictory and mutually exclusive. Controlling for process choice or other measures of dependency goes a long way in uncovering consistency across different theories and empirical studies in operations management.
DRIVERS OF INTERNET PURCHASING SUCCESS
Authors: BOYER KENNETH K. , OLSON JOHN R. 
Published: August 2010

The development of the Internet as a business tool over the past 5 years has been phenomenal, causing a period of chaos and creative destruction. E‐commerce has been hyped as a catalyst for vast streamlining of the supply chain. Yet, in a time of such phenomenal change, the focus tends to be on the large picture. Many details of how a new technology should be or is employed tend to be unknown or ignored. However, as the technology matures and stabilizes, one of the primary factors that separate winners from losers is the way in which the technology is implemented and operated on a daily basis. This study examines the ways in which companies utilize the Internet to streamline their purchasing process. A survey of 416 customers of a major Internet retailer of commodity office supplies reveals important relationships between web site design, employee work environments, Internet strategy, and purchasing performance. Our sample of companies consists of firms that have ordered office supplies at least once using the Internet. Our data indicate that companies do realize performance benefits from utilizing the Internet as a purchasing tool. Furthermore, the data suggest factors that facilitate purchasing process improvements. These factors can be utilized by both buying and selling companies to improve their proprietary processes to maximize the benefits of e‐commerce as a purchasing tool.
AMPLIFICATION IN SERVICE SUPPLY CHAINS: AN EXPLORATORY CASE STUDY FROM THE TELECOM INDUSTRY
Authors: AKKERMANS HENK , VOS BART 
Published: August 2010

Evidence on the impact of amplification effects on supply chain performance primarily has been derived from studies in manufacturing industries. In this article we reported on a case study from the telecommunication industry and aimed to analyze relevant root causes and associated countermeasures of the amplification phenomenon in service supply chains. Our case findings confirm the occurrence of upstream amplification of workload in the service supply chain, workload being a more appropriate measure for amplification effects in service supply chains than inventory levels. Not all of the root causes for amplification effects known from research in manufacturing environments were found to apply in this particular service context, especially those related to the use of inventory. In addition, our telecom case study highlighted a new root cause for amplification: interactions of high workloads and reduced process quality that start reinforcing each other once workloads pass a certain threshold. In this particular case, many of the known countermeasures to eliminate amplification did not apply, because of the specific characteristics of the service process, or yielded only limited results. A potentially very powerful countermeasure identified was to implement quality improvements throughout the service chain. This quality dimension links our research to the literature on service management in general, where service quality is on top of the research agenda.
On E‐Auctions for Procurement Operations
Authors: Rothkopf Michael H. , Whinston Andrew B. 
Published: August 2010

Electronic auctions have revolutionized procurement in the last decade. In many situations, they have replaced negotiations for supplier selection and price setting. While they have often greatly reduced transaction costs and increased competition, they have also encountered problems and resistance from suppliers resenting their intrusion on cooperative supplier/buyer relationships. In response to these issues, procurement auctions have evolved in radical new directions. Buyers use business rules to limit adverse changes. Some procurement auctions allow bidders to offer variants in the specifications of products to be supplied. Most important, some suppliers are allowing bidders to bid on packages of items, not just individual items. This tends to change procurement auctions from zero‐sum fights over supplier profit margins to win‐win searches for synergies. These changes have opened up many new research areas. Researchers are trying to improve how to deal with the computational issues involved in package auctions and to analyze the new auctions forms that are evolving. In general, equilibrium incentives are not known, and dealing with ties in package auctions is an issue. Computer scientists are analyzing the use of computerized bidding agents. Mechanisms that combine auctions with fixed buy prices or with negotiations need to be analyzed.
Slow Convergence? The New Endogenous Growth Theory and Regional Development*
Authors: Martin Ron , Sunley Peter 
Published: August 2010

Abstract: In economics, interest has revived in economic growth, especially in long‐term convergence in per capita incomes and output between countries. This mainly empirical debate has promoted the development of endogenous growth theory, which seeks to move beyond conventional neoclassical theory by treating as endogenous those factors—particularly technological change and human capital— relegated as exogenous by neoclassical growth models. The economists at the forefront of the formulation of endogenous growth theory and the new growth empirics have begun to use long‐term regional growth patterns to test and develop their ideas. Their analyses suggest that regional convergence is a slow and discontinuous process. In this paper we consider whether endogenous growth theory can help to explain this finding. We argue that endogenous growth theory has important regional implications, but also major limitations when applied to a regional context.endogenous growth,
Beyond Ethnic Enclaves: Location Strategies of Chinese Producer Service Firms in Los Angeles*
Authors: Zhou Yu 
Published: August 2010

Abstract: Ethnic enclaves are often not only the main residential areas for ethnic populations but also the prime locations for their businesses. As more and more ethnic enterprises locate outside such enclaves, the spatial pattern of ethnic business becomes more complex. To understand the spatial pattern of ethnic business, I argue that we need to go beyond treating “ethnic” as the only adjective. Drawing from the literature on industrial networks and territorial agglomeration, I examine the location patterns of ethnic producer services and their interfirm transaction networks. Chinese‐owned firms in three types of producer services of Los Angeles County were selected: accounting, banking, and computer distribution. I collected information on networks and locations through surveys, interviews, and directories. This research found that location strategies are extremely important for ethnic entrepreneurs to exploit their market niches in all three sectors. While Chinese firms show markedly different spatial patterns from their non‐Chinese counterparts, each type of producer service also differs from the others in spatial pattern. Accounting offices and bank branches concentrate in the Chinese central business district because of their Chinese‐client‐oriented network. A number of larger bank headquarters find downtown Los Angeles a favorable location because they are seeking international recognition and closer integration with mainstream financial institutions. Computer firms locate at the fringe of Chinese‐concentrated areas and cluster with other Chinese computer distributors to participate in a product pool so that parts can be exchanged faster. I conclude that the spatial organization of ethnic business needs to be understood as the outcome of interaction between cultural and industrial identities of enterprises.ethnic enclaves,
Where Do Tigers Sleep at Night? The State's Role in Housing Policy in South Korea and Singapore*
Authors: Park Bae‐Gyoon 
Published: August 2010

Abstract: A statist perspective holds that the autonomous state has enabled East Asian NICs, notably South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, to achieve economic success. I challenge this perspective by showing that sociopolitical relations between the state and other social actors have deeply affected state actions in housing development in South Korea and Singapore. I demonstrate that the state role in housing is influenced by the nature of the political coalition the state has established with other social groups to promote economic growth. In South Korea, an exclusive developmental coalition between the state and large capitalists forced the state to minimize its role in housing provision and severely reduced state autonomy in controlling real estate speculation. In contrast, the state in Singapore has been proactive in providing public housing and controlling landownership on the basis of a balanced relation between growth and populist coalitions. This study suggests that the state role in national development needs to be understood in the context of political processes among social actors, such as political coalitions between the state and other social actors. The state can succeed in fostering social development only by establishing the proper political relations among social actors, such as the state, capital, and labor.housing policy,