Current Issue : January - March Volume : 2012 Issue Number : 1 Articles : 5 Articles
The supply chain concept is theorized from the formation of a value chain network consisting of individual functional entities committed to provide resources and information to achieve the objectives of efficient management of suppliers as well as the flow of parts. The understanding and practicing of supply chain management have become an essential prerequisite for staying competitive in the global race and for enhancing profitability. In this paper, the role of SCM (Supply Chain Management) will be described and the results of the empiric research conducted in Croatian graphic companies will be presented. Research framework is based on a theoretical framework and includes two main dimensions: SCM\r\npractices (strategic supplier, partnership, customer relationship, level of information sharing and quality of information sharing, postponement) and competitive advantage (price and cost, quality, delivery dependability, product innovation, time to market). All findings of this empiric research will provide better understanding of SCM benefits for graphic, and production companies as well, which will be able to achieve competitive advantage through the tactical planning and control, but also with respect to strategic intent. Also, results of the empirical research provide justification of a framework that identifies five key dimensions of SCM practices and describe the relationship among SCM practices and competitive advantage observed through the five dimensions....
Advantages of decentralized transportation planning responsibilities may include reduced project delivery cost, the integration of comprehensive long-range planning with regional land use, and greater accountability regarding local concerns. Yet disadvantages may include a tendency for operations to dominate longer-term planning, inconsistent operational standards, and difficulty in achieving network benefits, since some transportation links may provide benefits to the entire system but not to the immediate area where the link is located. To surmount these challenges in a decentralized environment, agencies need to cooperate effectively. Characteristics of effective collaboration include (1) experienced personnel, (2) credibility of the deciding entity, (3) transparency of decision-making processes, (4) an authority with sufficient power and/or funding to encourage implementation of key initiatives, (5) clear incentives for cooperation, and, of special importance given limited resources, and (6) an ability to evaluate tradeoffs. An access management case study demonstrates how agencies may use these characteristics to advance challenging projects in a decentralized environment....
Supply chain management (SCM) aims to have a smooth flow of goods through its various supply centres. In many situations, long queues get build up which decrease the efficiency of supply chain framework. In supply chains, the perishable items like vegetables, fruits etc. in the congestion situations become worthless if they are not supplied to the retailers (customers) at proper time as they may get spoiled. This may lead to significant loss to the supplier firm. The perishable items can be modelled by the reneged customers in the queuing modelling. Also, the prevalence of long queues may deter the incoming lot of goods (vehicles carrying goods) to join the same congested supply chain (waiting line). Such situation can be called as balking. Balking also has adverse effect on the continuity of supply chain. It is envisaged in this paper that if the supply firms devise strategies to prevent the spoilage of perishable goods during queuing, they can manage to earn significant revenues. If they employ such strategies in their supply chain queues, then there are chances that a certain percentage of perishable goods can be prevented from being spoiled. Thus, there is a probability that a perishable item can be made to stay fit for its further use. Therefore, the probability of retaining the impatient (reneged) customers has been incorporated. The steady-state solution of the model has been derived. The economic aspects of the model have also been studied....
To improve the effectiveness of the public pharmacy, resources should be switched towards areas of need, reducing inequalities and promoting better health conditions. Medicines are financed either through cost sharing or full private. The role of the private services is significant. A review of reform of financing medicines in Sudan is given in this article. Also, it highlights the current drug supply system in the public sector, which is currently a responsibility of the Central Medical Supplies Public Corporation (CMS). In Sudan, the researchers did not identify any rigorous evaluations or quantitative studies about the impact of drug regulations on the quality of medicines and how to protect the public against counterfeit or low quality medicines, although it is practically possible. There is need to continually evaluate regulations put in place to ensure that the public is protected by promoting the marketing of high quality medicines rather than commercial interests, and that the drug companies are held accountable for their conducts....
We develop a four-stage, serial supply chain inventory model with planned backorders. This supply chain model is formulated for the integer multipliers coordination mechanism, where firms at the same stage of the supply chain use the same cycle time and the cycle time at each stage is an integer multiplier of the cycle time used at the adjacent downstream stage. We develop an optimal replenishment policy using a simple algebraic method to solve the problem without the use of differential calculus....
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