Suchergebnisse

The accession of the People's Republic of China to the World Trade Organisation should provide greater access to an erstwhile‐untapped market. Trade and foreign investments are expected to increase rapidly. Under this setting, an enormous challenge is posed to the logistics industry as it endeavours to meet the increased demands of the market. Based on the secondary data, this paper finds that despite the improvements and advancements undertaken by the Government and other agencies, the current logistics infrastructure, particularly those of transportation networks, telecommunications systems, warehousing facilities and customs procedures are still lacking. Future developments are also highlighted to portray an accurate assessment of the logistics situation in China.

Indochina has undergone tremendous change in the past decade to achieve good economic performance. However, the continuation of this strong economic performance depends on an efficient logistics infrastructure. Examines the region's logistics realities. Specifically, the paper finds that the logistics infrastructure is still rather backward with inadequate transportation networks, inefficient customs procedures, and basic materials handling facilities. Based on this, proposals are made regarding some strategies for managers, MNCs and logistics providers who are keen to enter this emerging market.

Many firms are starting to focus on the effective and efficient supply chain management in Asia. This empirical paper reports on the state of existing logistics management practices in Thailand. The main results reveal that firms prefer agile suppliers. Also, most of the logistics costs incurred are on transportation and warehousing. Firms that have instituted logistics departments are making an effort in upgrading their logistical systems and are more pervasive in using technology to manage logistics as compared to firms without formalised logistics departments. The factors hindering logistics development include inefficient logistics information systems, acute transportation bottlenecks, and the lack of logistics management expertise. Finally, future logistics managers need to be competent in modern technology and possess logistics specific skills.

In the recent attempt to add an external wing to its economy, Singapore has been using its various agencies and instruments to promote the growth of micro enterprises and other types of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). Recognising the potential contribution by entrepreneurs to help sustain economic growth for the country, the Singapore government is now embarking on a proactive public policy to motivate new business entrepreneurship. This paper shows how the government has worked with industry to encourage entrepreneurship development. Particular attention is paid to the activities of various government agencies in relation to new business entrepreneurship and to the barriers of this activity in Singapore. The Singapore experience and programme offer useful insights for policy development and management by other countries in the region.

The literature on the close to just‐in‐time (JIT) problems of
conditions already exists. However, most of it is descriptive and does
not quantify cost savings derivable as one moves from the Economic Order
Quantity (EOQ) scenario to one that is governed or nearly governed by
zero inventory philosophy. This article seeks to establish cost bounds
on inventory held under close to JIT conditions for the single item
inventory.

Maximizing reader insights into the challenges facing maritime supply chains and container port logistics service providers in Asia, this book highlights their innovative responses to these challenges through real-world case studies. With a focus on mathematical modeling, simulation and heuristics approaches, this book provides academics, engineers, container terminal operators, students in logistics and supply chain management with the latest approaches that can be used to address the planning and scheduling problem in large container terminal yards. This book can be used on a self-contained basis as teaching cases in an undergraduate or specialist class setting, or on techniques applied to maritime container operations for port operations.

PurposeThis research paper examines how hub firm transformation and restructuring of network partnerships shape the development of industrial clusters in China.Design/methodology/approachQuestionnaire data were collected from 210 managers (response rate 70.9 percent) from the manufacturing industrial clusters in Eastern China.FindingsThe results inform that a cluster's hub firm transformation influences the evolution of the cluster. Though the hub firm may possess transformation capabilities, the cluster is likely to be weakened if network partnerships and resource synergy are not formed amongst the cluster members.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper, in examining the individual- and firm-level attributes of orchestration capability and their interactions, sheds light on the firm level and inter-firm level relationships between resources and innovation in an industrial cluster.Practical implicationsTo facilitate learning and the upgrading of firms within an industry cluster and promote a cluster's innovation network, policymakers can initiate preferential policy measures to cultivate support to strategically transform a cluster's hub firm, thus fostering cluster network growth.Originality/valueThe paper studies the evolution of clusters by investigating the hub firm transformation and member firm interaction. Focusing on the inter-firm network interactions lends a richer understanding of the nuances of the evolution of industrial clusters in Asia.

ABSTRACTThis article investigates the impact of information discrepancy between a drop‐shipper and an online retailer on the drop‐shipping supply chain performance. The inventory information misalignment between them contributes to the failure of order fulfillment and demand satisfaction, and hence the associated penalties are incurred. In this article, we first analyze the penalties of ignoring such information discrepancy on both the drop‐shipper and the online retailer. We then assess the impact of information discrepancy on both parties when the drop‐shipper understands the existence of the information discrepancy but is not able to eliminate the errors. The numerical experiments indicate that both parties can have significant amount of the percentage cost reductions if the information discrepancy can be eliminated, and the potential savings are substantial especially when the errors have large variability. Furthermore, we observe that the online retailer is more vulnerable to information discrepancy than the drop‐shipper, and the drop‐shipper is likely to suffer from the online retailer's underestimation of the physical inventory level more than the problem of its overestimation. Moreover, even if eliminating errors is not possible, both parties could still benefit from taking the possibility of errors into consideration in decision making.

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the extent to which four elements of the value chain – marketing, research and development, procurement, and operations – are associated with product quality and product innovation.Design/methodology/approachA survey of 194 managers of Australian firms, and multivariate analysis using structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses.FindingsThe elements of the value chain differ in their association with product outcomes. Marketing and production are related to product quality, but surprisingly while research and development is related to product innovation, marketing is not. Procurement is related to both product quality and product innovation.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper shows that individual elements of the value chain are related to specific competitive strategies and how these elements are related to each other, suggesting the need to direct effort within the firm for better, targeted performance. The results are limited by the sample size and geography of the survey.Practical implicationsSpecific value chain functions tend to be associated with specific performance outcomes. This suggests that managers might gain by targeting specific elements of the value chain as their organizations strive for specific competitive goals.Originality/valueThis paper seeks to help managers and decision makers to assess the relationship between the different attributes of the value chain and product quality and innovation. It is often not feasible for managers to emphasize all the elements of the value chain simultaneously, and this paper provides an important step in looking at these individual linkages.

AbstractThis paper considers a warehouse sizing problem whose objective is to minimize the total cost of ordering, holding, and warehousing of inventory. Unlike typical economic lot sizing models, the warehousing cost structure examined here is not the simple unit rate type, but rather a more realistic step function of the warehouse space to be acquired. In the cases when only one type of stock‐keeping unit (SKU) is warehoused, or when multiple SKUs are warehoused, but, with separable inventory costs, closed form solutions are obtained for the optimal warehouse size. For the case of multi‐SKUs with joint inventory replenishment cost, a heuristic with a provable performance bound of 94% is provided. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 48: 299–312, 2001