Search results for: Competitive Advantage
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 1003

Search results for: Competitive Advantage

943 Barriers to Knowledge Management: A Theoretical Framework and a Review of Industrial Cases

Authors: Chihab BenMoussa

Abstract:

Firms have invested heavily in knowledge management (KM) with the aim to build a knowledge capability and use it to achieve a competitive advantage. Research has shown, however, that not all knowledge management projects succeed. Some studies report that about 84% of knowledge management projects fail. This paper has integrated studies on the impediments to knowledge management into a theoretical framework. Based on this framework, five cases documenting failed KM initiatives were analysed. The analysis gave us a clear picture about why certain KM projects fail. The high failure rate of KM can be explained by the gaps that exist between users and management in terms of KM perceptions and objectives

Keywords: Knowledge management, barriers to knowledge management, Knowledge-gaps, supply-driven approach to knowledge management.

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942 Periodic Solutions in a Delayed Competitive System with the Effect of Toxic Substances on Time Scales

Authors: Changjin Xu, Qianhong Zhang

Abstract:

In this paper, the existence of periodic solutions of a delayed competitive system with the effect of toxic substances is investigated by using the Gaines and Mawhin,s continuation theorem of coincidence degree theory on time scales. New sufficient conditions are obtained for the existence of periodic solutions. The approach is unified to provide the existence of the desired solutions for the continuous differential equations and discrete difference equations. Moreover, The approach has been widely applied to study existence of periodic solutions in differential equations and difference equations.

Keywords: Time scales, competitive system, periodic solution, coincidence degree, topological degree.

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941 A Novel Technique for Ferroresonance Identification in Distribution Networks

Authors: G. Mokryani, M. R. Haghifam, J. Esmaeilpoor

Abstract:

Happening of Ferroresonance phenomenon is one of the reasons of consuming and ruining transformers, so recognition of Ferroresonance phenomenon has a special importance. A novel method for classification of Ferroresonance presented in this paper. Using this method Ferroresonance can be discriminate from other transients such as capacitor switching, load switching, transformer switching. Wavelet transform is used for decomposition of signals and Competitive Neural Network used for classification. Ferroresonance data and other transients was obtained by simulation using EMTP program. Using Daubechies wavelet transform signals has been decomposed till six levels. The energy of six detailed signals that obtained by wavelet transform are used for training and trailing Competitive Neural Network. Results show that the proposed procedure is efficient in identifying Ferroresonance from other events.

Keywords: Competitive Neural Network, Ferroresonance, EMTP program, Wavelet transform.

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940 Performance Assessment and Optimization of the After-Sale Networks

Authors: H. Izadbakhsh, M.Hour Ali, A. Amirkhani, A. Montazeri, M. Saberi

Abstract:

The after–sales activities are nowadays acknowledged as a relevant source of revenue, profit and competitive advantage in most manufacturing industries. Top and middle management, therefore, should focus on the definition of a structured business performance measurement system for the after-sales business. The paper aims at filling this gap, and presents an integrated methodology for the after-sales network performance measurement, and provides an empirical application to automotive case companies and their official service network. This is the first study that presents an integrated multivariate approach for total assessment and improvement of after-sale services.

Keywords: Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Automotive companies, After-sale services.

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939 Competitiveness of the Baltic States within the International Ratings

Authors: Ilze Stokmane

Abstract:

Baltic competitiveness is quite controversial. In a situation with the rapid structural changes, economy develops in balance very rarely - in different fields will always be more rapid changes in another more stagnation. Analyzing different economic indices developed by international organizations the situation in three Baltic countries are described from a different competitiveness positions highlighting strengths and weaknesses of each country. Exploring the openness of the economy, it is possible to observe certain risks included in the reports describing situation of competitiveness where government policies competing in the tax system, the rates of labour market policies, investment environment, etc. This is a very important factor resulting in competitive advantage. Baltic countries are still at a weak position from a technological perspective, and need to borrow the knowledge and technology from more developed countries.

Keywords: Baltic countries, Baltic region, competitiveness, indices of competitiveness.

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938 Towards a Competitive South African Tooling Industry

Authors: Mncedisi Trinity Dewa, Andre F. Van Der Merwe, Stephen Matope

Abstract:

Tool, Die and Mould-making (TDM) firms have been known to play a pivotal role in the growth and development of the manufacturing sectors in most economies. Their output contributes significantly to the quality, cost and delivery speed of final manufactured parts. Unfortunately, the South African Tool, Die and Mould-making manufacturers have not been competing on the local or global market in a significant way. This reality has hampered the productivity and growth of the sector thus attracting intervention. The paper explores the shortcomings South African toolmakers have to overcome to restore their competitive position globally. Results from a global benchmarking survey on the tooling sector are used to establish a roadmap of what South African toolmakers can do to become a productive, World Class force on the global market.

Keywords: Competitive performance objectives, lead time, toolmakers, world-class manufacturing.

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937 Areas of Lean Manufacturing for Productivity Improvement in a Manufacturing Unit

Authors: Hudli Mohd. Rameez, K.H.Inamdar

Abstract:

Many organisations are nowadays interested to adopt lean manufacturing strategy that would enable them to compete in this competitive globalisation market. In this respect, it is necessary to assess the implementation of lean manufacturing in different organisations so that the important best practices can be identified. This paper describes the development of key areas which will be used to assess the adoption and implementation of lean manufacturing practices. There are some key areas developed to evaluate and reduce the most optimal projects so as to enhance their production efficiency and increase the purpose of the economic benefits of the manufacturing unit. Lean manufacturing is becoming lean enterprise by treating its customers and suppliers as partners. This gives the extra edge in today-s cost and time competitive markets. The organisation is becoming strong in all the conventional competition points. They are Price, Quality and Delivery. Lean enterprise owners can deliver high quality products quickly, with low price.

Keywords: Competitive points, implementation, Leanmanufacturing, tools and techniques

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936 Role of Technological Innovation in Improving Manufacturing Performance: A Review

Authors: Davinder Singh, Jaimal Singh Khamba, Tarun Nanda

Abstract:

MSMEs are regarded as the sunrise sector of the Indian economy in view of its large potential for growth and likely socio economic impact specifically on employment and income generation. In today’s competitive business environment, global competition forces companies to continuously seek ways of improving their products and services. The pressure on organizations to adapt to new technologies and external threats requires resourcefulness, creativity and innovation. Market has become more open, competitive and customers more demanding. Without continuous technology innovation, no organization can ever remain competitive. Innovations reflect a critical way in which organizations respond to either technological or market challenges. The need of the market is to deliver high quality products through continuous changing in features in product, improve existing products, reduce their cost, and improve employee skills, training, technology infrastructure and financial policies. Therefore, the key factor of organization’s ability to change is innovation. The study presents a detailed review of literature on the role of technology innovation in improving manufacturing performance of industries.

Keywords: Competitive, Manufacturing performance, MSMEs, Technological Innovation.

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935 Effects of Alternative Opportunities and Compensation on Turnover Intention of Singapore PMET

Authors: Han Guan Chew, Keith Yong Ngee Ng, Shan-Wei Fan

Abstract:

In Singapore, talent retention is one of the most persistent and real issue companies have to grapple with due to the tight labour market. Being resource-scarce, Singapore depends solely on its talented pool of high quality human resource to sustain its competitive advantage in the global economy. But the complex and multifaceted nature of turnover phenomenon makes the prescription of effective talent retention strategies in such a competitive labour market very challenging, especially when it comes to monetary incentives, companies struggle to answer the question of “How much is enough?” By examining the interactive effects of perceived alternative employment opportunities, annual salary and satisfaction with compensation on the turnover intention of 102 Singapore Professionals, Managers, Executives and Technicians (PMET) through correlation analyses and multiple regressions, important insights into the psyche of the Singapore talent pool can be drawn. It is found that annual salary influence turnover intention indirectly through mediation and moderation effects on PMET’s satisfaction on compensation. PMET are also found to be heavily swayed by better external opportunities. This implies that talent retention strategies should not adopt a purely monetary based blanket approach but rather a comprehensive and holistic one that considers the dynamics of prevailing market conditions.

Keywords: Employee Turnover, High Performers, Knowledge Workers, Perceived Alternative Employment Opportunities Salary, Satisfaction on Compensation, Singapore PMET, Talent Retention.

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934 Decision Support System for Suppliers

Authors: Babak Tashakori Bafghi, Laleh Tashakori, Reza Allahyari Soeini, Mohammad Mokhtari

Abstract:

Supplier selection is a multi criteria decision-making process that comprises tangible and intangible factors. The majority of previous supplier selection techniques do not consider strategic perspective. Besides, uncertainty is one of the most important obstacles in supplier selection. For the first, time in this paper, the idea of the algorithm " Knapsack " is used to select suppliers Moreover, an attempt has to be made to take the advantage of a simple numerical method for solving model .This is an innovation to resolve any ambiguity in choosing suppliers. This model has been tried in the suppliers selected in a competitive environment and according to all desired standards of quality and quantity to show the efficiency of the model, an industry sample has been uses.

Keywords: Knapsack, linear programming, supplier select, supply chain management.

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933 A Process of Forming a Single Competitive Factor in the Digital Camera Industry

Authors: Kiyohiro Yamazaki

Abstract:

This paper considers a forming process of a single competitive factor in the digital camera industry from the viewpoint of product platform. To make product development easier for companies and to increase product introduction ratios, development efforts concentrate on improving and strengthening certain product attributes, and it is born in the process that the product platform is formed continuously. It is pointed out that the formation of this product platform raises product development efficiency of individual companies, but on the other hand, it has a trade-off relationship of causing unification of competitive factors in the whole industry. This research tries to analyze product specification data which were collected from the web page of digital camera companies. Specifically, this research collected all product specification data released in Japan from 1995 to 2003 and analyzed the composition of image sensor and optical lens; and it identified product platforms shared by multiple products and discussed their application. As a result, this research found that the product platformation was born in the development of the standard product for major market segmentation. Every major company has made product platforms of image sensors and optical lenses, and as a result, this research found that the competitive factors were unified in the entire industry throughout product platformation. In other words, this product platformation brought product development efficiency of individual firms; however, it also caused industrial competition factors to be unified in the industry.

Keywords: Digital camera industry, product evolution trajectory, product platform, unification of competitive factors.

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932 The Place and Effects of Information Management in Corporate Identity

Authors: H. Buluthan Cetintas

Abstract:

Corporate identity, which has several advantages such that the employees become integrated with their corporations, corporation is distinguished from its competitors and it is recognized by the masses, is the total of the distinctive corporate features that and corporation has. That the information takes part in production as a more important component than labor and capital has required that the corporations are reorganized as information-based. Therefore, information and its management have reached a basic and prevalent position in having sustainable competitive advantage. Thanks to the information management which regulates the information and makes it reachable and available, information will be produced in line with a specific purpose in the corporations and be used in all the corporate processes. As an auxiliary power for increase in the economic potential, efficiency and productivity of the corporation, corporate identity consists of four components. These are corporate philosophy, corporate design, corporate behavior and corporate communication. In this study, the effects of the information management on corporate identity are discussed from the point of these four elements.

Keywords: Corporate identity, information management.

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931 The Impact of the Economic Crises over Management Marketing Strategies of Romanian B2B Companies

Authors: S. C. Căescu, I. Dumitru

Abstract:

The main objective of the paper has been represented by the identification of the changes that occurred in the competitive environment and their impact on the strategic marketing management of companies in B2B market. At Romania-s level there has not yet been done a similar research that studies change management in crises on business to business field. In order to answer to the paper-s objectives, a qualitative marketing research (in-depth structured interview) was conducted, within the top management of 27 companies in Romanian business to business field. The main results of the research highlight the necessity of a management of change, as a result of the crises, as follows: changes in the corporate objectives (from development objectives to maintaining objectives), changes market segmentation and in competitive advantages, changes at the level of market strategies and of the marketing mix.

Keywords: change management, competitive environment, marketing management strategies, strategic marketing.

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930 Towards Growing Self-Organizing Neural Networks with Fixed Dimensionality

Authors: Guojian Cheng, Tianshi Liu, Jiaxin Han, Zheng Wang

Abstract:

The competitive learning is an adaptive process in which the neurons in a neural network gradually become sensitive to different input pattern clusters. The basic idea behind the Kohonen-s Self-Organizing Feature Maps (SOFM) is competitive learning. SOFM can generate mappings from high-dimensional signal spaces to lower dimensional topological structures. The main features of this kind of mappings are topology preserving, feature mappings and probability distribution approximation of input patterns. To overcome some limitations of SOFM, e.g., a fixed number of neural units and a topology of fixed dimensionality, Growing Self-Organizing Neural Network (GSONN) can be used. GSONN can change its topological structure during learning. It grows by learning and shrinks by forgetting. To speed up the training and convergence, a new variant of GSONN, twin growing cell structures (TGCS) is presented here. This paper first gives an introduction to competitive learning, SOFM and its variants. Then, we discuss some GSONN with fixed dimensionality, which include growing cell structures, its variants and the author-s model: TGCS. It is ended with some testing results comparison and conclusions.

Keywords: Artificial neural networks, Competitive learning, Growing cell structures, Self-organizing feature maps.

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929 Release Management with Continuous Delivery: A Case Study

Authors: A. Maruf Aytekin

Abstract:

We present our approach on using continuous delivery pattern for release management. One of the key practices of agile and lean teams is the continuous delivery of new features to stakeholders. The main benefits of this approach lie in the ability to release new applications rapidly which has real strategic impact on the competitive advantage of an organization. Organizations that successfully implement Continuous Delivery have the ability to evolve rapidly to support innovation, provide stable and reliable software in more efficient ways, decrease the amount of resources need for maintenance, and lower the software delivery time and costs. One of the objectives of this paper is to elaborate a case study where IT division of Central Securities Depository Institution (MKK) of Turkey apply Continuous Delivery pattern to improve release management process.

Keywords: Automation, continuous delivery, deployment, release management.

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928 System Reliability by Prediction of Generator Output and Losses in a Competitive Energy Market

Authors: Perumal Nallagownden, Ravindra N. Mukerjee, Syafrudin Masri

Abstract:

In a competitive energy market, system reliability should be maintained at all times. Power system operation being of online in nature, the energy balance requirements must be satisfied to ensure reliable operation the system. To achieve this, information regarding the expected status of the system, the scheduled transactions and the relevant inputs necessary to make either a transaction contract or a transmission contract operational, have to be made available in real time. The real time procedure proposed, facilitates this. This paper proposes a quadratic curve learning procedure, which enables a generator-s contribution to the retailer demand, power loss of transaction in a line at the retail end and its associated losses for an oncoming operating scenario to be predicted. Matlab program was used to test in on a 24-bus IEE Reliability Test System, and the results are found to be acceptable.

Keywords: Deregulation, learning coefficients, reliability, prediction, competitive energy market.

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927 Process of Revitalization of the City Centers in Poland: The Problem of Cooperation between Sectors

Authors: Ewa M. Boryczka

Abstract:

Contemporary city is a subject to rapid economic and social changes. Therefore, it requires an active policy designed to meet the diverse needs of their residents, build competitive position and capacity to compete with other cities. Competitiveness of cities depends largely on their resources but also to a large extent, on the policies and performance of local authorities. Cooperation with social sector also plays an important role, as it affects the use of resources and builds an advantage over other cities. The subject of this article is city's contemporary problems of development with particular emphasis on central areas. This issue is a starting point for reflection on the process of urban regeneration in medium size cities in Poland, as well as cooperation between various actors and their roles in the revitalization processes of Polish cities' centers.

Keywords: City, cooperation between sectors, crisis of city centers, revitalization.

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926 An Integrated DEMATEL-QFD Model for Medical Supplier Selection

Authors: Mehtap Dursun, Zeynep Şener

Abstract:

Supplier selection is considered as one of the most critical issues encountered by operations and purchasing managers to sharpen the company’s competitive advantage. In this paper, a novel fuzzy multi-criteria group decision making approach integrating quality function deployment (QFD) and decision making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method is proposed for supplier selection. The proposed methodology enables to consider the impacts of inner dependence among supplier assessment criteria. A house of quality (HOQ) which translates purchased product features into supplier assessment criteria is built using the weights obtained by DEMATEL approach to determine the desired levels of supplier assessment criteria. Supplier alternatives are ranked by a distance-based method.

Keywords: DEMATEL, Group decision making, QFD, Supplier selection.

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925 Achieving Business and IT Alignment from Organisational Learning Perspectives

Authors: Hamad Hussain Balhareth, Kecheng Liu, Sharm Manwani

Abstract:

Business and IT alignment has continued as a top concern for business and IT executives for almost three decades. Many researchers have conducted empirical studies on the relationship between business-IT alignment and performance. Yet, these approaches, lacking a social perspective, have had little impact on sustaining performance and competitive advantage. In addition to the limited alignment literature that explores organisational learning that is represented in shared understanding, communication, cognitive maps and experiences. Hence, this paper proposes an integrated process that enables social and intellectual dimensions through the concept of organisational learning. In particular, the feedback and feedforward process which provide a value creation across dynamic multilevel of learning. This mechanism enables on-going effectiveness through development of individuals, groups and organisations, which improves the quality of business and IT strategies and drives to performance.

Keywords: business-IT alignment, social dimension, intellectual dimension, organisational learning

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924 Core Competence Development while Carrying out Organizational Changes

Authors: Olga A. Shvetsova

Abstract:

The paper contains the different issues of competence management in industrial companies. The theoretical bases of human resources management and practical issues of innovative enterprises’ competitiveness are considered. The research is focused on the modern industrial enterprise changes management problems; it focuses on the effective personnel management of industrial enterprises on the basis of competence approach. The influence of organizational changes on the competence development is discussed. The need for development of the new technologies is mentioned, proposal is based on competence-based approach in personnel management including in the conditions of carrying out organizational changes; methods of acquisition and development of missing key professional competences are discussed; importance of key competencies in forming competitive advantage of the organization is mentioned.

Keywords: Competence model, development of industrial company, organizational changes, competitiveness, core competencies.

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923 Homomorphic Conceptual Framework for Effective Supply Chain Strategy (HCEFSC) within Operational Research (OR) with Sustainability and Phenomenology

Authors: Al-Salamin Hussain, Elias O. Tembe

Abstract:

Supply chain (SC) is an operational research (OR) approach and technique which acts as catalyst within central nervous system of business today. Without SC, any type of business is at doldrums, hence entropy. SC is the lifeblood of business today because it is the pivotal hub which provides imperative competitive advantage. The paper present a conceptual framework dubbed as Homomorphic Conceptual Framework for Effective Supply Chain Strategy (HCEFSC).The term Homomorphic is derived from abstract algebraic mathematical term homomorphism (same shape) which also embeds the following mathematical application sets: monomorphisms, isomorphism, automorphisms, and endomorphism. The HCFESC is intertwined and integrated with wide and broad sets of elements.

Keywords: Automorphisms, Homomorphism, Monomorphisms, Supply Chain.

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922 Enhanced Imperialist Competitive Algorithm for the Cell Formation Problem Using Sequence Data

Authors: S. H. Borghei, E. Teymourian, M. Mobin, G. M. Komaki, S. Sheikh

Abstract:

Imperialist Competitive Algorithm (ICA) is a recent meta-heuristic method that is inspired by the social evolutions for solving NP-Hard problems. The ICA is a population-based algorithm which has achieved a great performance in comparison to other metaheuristics. This study is about developing enhanced ICA approach to solve the Cell Formation Problem (CFP) using sequence data. In addition to the conventional ICA, an enhanced version of ICA, namely EICA, applies local search techniques to add more intensification aptitude and embed the features of exploration and intensification more successfully. Suitable performance measures are used to compare the proposed algorithms with some other powerful solution approaches in the literature. In the same way, for checking the proficiency of algorithms, forty test problems are presented. Five benchmark problems have sequence data, and other ones are based on 0-1 matrices modified to sequence based problems. Computational results elucidate the efficiency of the EICA in solving CFP problems.

Keywords: Cell formation problem, Group technology, Imperialist competitive algorithm, Sequence data.

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921 Identifying Impact Factors in Technology Transfer with the Aim of Technology Localization

Authors: L.Tahmooresnejad, M.A.Shafia, R.Salami

Abstract:

Technology transfer is a common method for companies to acquire new technology and presents both challenges and substantial benefits. In some cases especially in developing countries, the mere possession of technology does not guarantee a competitive advantage if the appropriate infrastructure is not in place. In this paper, we identify the localization factors needed to provide a better understanding of the conditions necessary for localization in order to benefit from future technology developments. Our theoretical and empirical analyses allow us to identify several factors in the technology transfer process that affect localization and provide leverage in enhancing capabilities and absorptive capacity.The impact factors are categorized within different groups of government, firms, institutes and market, and are verified through the empirical survey of a technology transfer experience. Moreover, statistical analysis has allowed a deeper understanding of the importance of each factor and has enabled each group to prioritize their organizational policies to effectively localize their technology.

Keywords: Absorption Capacity, Adaptation, Technology Transfer, Technology Localization

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920 Multi-Label Hierarchical Classification for Protein Function Prediction

Authors: Helyane B. Borges, Julio Cesar Nievola

Abstract:

Hierarchical classification is a problem with applications in many areas as protein function prediction where the dates are hierarchically structured. Therefore, it is necessary the development of algorithms able to induce hierarchical classification models. This paper presents experimenters using the algorithm for hierarchical classification called Multi-label Hierarchical Classification using a Competitive Neural Network (MHC-CNN). It was tested in ten datasets the Gene Ontology (GO) Cellular Component Domain. The results are compared with the Clus-HMC and Clus-HSC using the hF-Measure.

Keywords: Hierarchical Classification, Competitive Neural Network, Global Classifier.

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919 Decision Making about the Environmental Management Implementation – Incentives and Expectations

Authors: Eva Štěpánková

Abstract:

Environmental management implementation is presently one of the ways of organization success and value improvement. Increasing an organization motivation to environmental measures introduction is caused primarily by the rising pressure of the society that generates various incentives to endeavor for the environmental performance improvement. The aim of the paper is to identify and characterize the key incentives and expectations leading organizations to the environmental management implementation. The author focuses on five businesses of different size and field, operating in the Czech Republic. The qualitative approach and grounded theory procedure are used in research. The results point out that the significant incentives for environmental management implementation represent primarily demands of customers, the opportunity to declare the environmental commitment and image improvement. The researched enterprises less commonly expect the economical contribution, competitive advantage increase or export rate improvement. The results show that marketing contributions are primarily expected from the environmental management implementation.

Keywords: Environmental management, environmental management systems, ISO 14001.

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918 Implementation of On-Line Cutting Stock Problem on NC Machines

Authors: Jui P. Hung, Hsia C. Chang, Yuan L. Lai

Abstract:

Introduction applicability of high-speed cutting stock problem (CSP) is presented in this paper. Due to the orders continued coming in from various on-line ways for a professional cutting company, to stay competitive, such a business has to focus on sustained production at high levels. In others words, operators have to keep the machine running to stay ahead of the pack. Therefore, the continuous stock cutting problem with setup is proposed to minimize the cutting time and pattern changing time to meet the on-line given demand. In this paper, a novel method is proposed to solve the problem directly by using cutting patterns directly. A major advantage of the proposed method in series on-line production is that the system can adjust the cutting plan according to the floating orders. Examples with multiple items are demonstrated. The results show considerable efficiency and reliability in high-speed cutting of CSP.

Keywords: Cutting stock, Optimization, Heuristics

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917 Paradigm and Paradox: Knowledge Management and Business Ethics

Authors: A. Evans, M. McKinley

Abstract:

Knowledge management (KM) is generally considered to be a positive process in an organisation, facilitating opportunities to achieve competitive advantage via better quality information handling, compilation of expert know-how and rapid response to fluctuations in the business environment. The KM paradigm as portrayed in the literature informs the processes that can increase intangible assets so that corporate knowledge is preserved. However, in some instances, knowledge management exists in a universe of dynamic tension among the conflicting needs to respect privacy and intellectual property (IP), to guard against data theft, to protect national security and to stay within the laws. While the Knowledge Management literature focuses on the bright side of the paradigm, there is also a different side in which knowledge is distorted, suppressed or misappropriated due to personal or organisational motives (the paradox). This paper describes the ethical paradoxes that occur within the taxonomy and deontology of knowledge management and suggests that recognising both the promises and pitfalls of KM requires wisdom.

Keywords: business ethics, data, knowledge, knowledgemanagement, privacy, protection.

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916 Product Ecodesign Approaches in ISO 14001 Certified Companies

Authors: Gregor Radonjič, Aleksandra P. Korda, Damijan Krajnc

Abstract:

The aim of the study was to investigate whether there is the promotion of product ecodesign measures as a result of adopting ISO 14001 certification in manufacturing companies in the Republic of Slovenia. Companies gave the most of their product development attention to waste and energy reduction during manufacturing process and reduction of material consumption per unit of product. Regarding the importance of different ecodesign criteria reduction of material consumption per unit of product was reported as the most important criterion. Less attention is paid to endof- life issues considering recycling or packaging. Most manufacturing enterprises considered ISO 14001 standard as a very useful tool or at least a useful tool helping them to accelerate and establish product ecodesign activities. Two most frequently considered ecodesign drivers are increased competitive advantage and legal requirements and two most important barriers are high development costs and insufficient market demand.

Keywords: ecodesign, environmental management system, ISO 14001, products

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915 mCRM-s New Opportunities of Customer Satisfaction

Authors: Cheng Fang Hsu, Shinn-Jong Lin

Abstract:

This paper aims at a new challenge of customer satisfaction on mobile customer relationship management. In this paper presents a conceptualization of mCRM on its unique characteristics of customer satisfaction. Also, this paper develops an empirical framework in conception of customer satisfaction in mCRM. A single-case study is applied as the methodology. In order to gain an overall view of the empirical case, this paper accesses to invisible and important information of company in this investigation. Interview is the key data source form the main informants of the company through which the issues are identified and the proposed framework is built. It supports the development of customer satisfaction in mCRM; links this theoretical framework into practice; and provides the direction for future research. Therefore, this paper is very useful for the industries as it helps them to understand how customer satisfaction changes the mCRM structure and increase the business competitive advantage. Finally, this paper provides a contribution in practice by linking a theoretical framework in conception of customer satisfaction in mCRM for companies to a practical real case.

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; mCRM; MobileCommunication.

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914 The Success of E-Collaborative in E-Commerce: The Study of B2C Business in Thailand

Authors: Wanida Suwunniponth

Abstract:

The objectives of this research were to study the influencing factors that contributed to the success of e-collaborative in e-commerce of B2C (Business to Customer) business in Bangkok, Thailand. The influencing factors included organization, people, information technology and the process of e-collaborative. A questionnaire was used to collect data from 200 small e-commerce businesses and the path analysis was utilized as the tool for data analysis. By using the path analysis, it was revealed that the factors concerning with organization, people and information technology played an influence on e-collaborative process and the success of ecollaborative, whereas the process of e-collaborative factor manipulated its success. The findings suggested that B2C ecommerce business in Thailand should opt in improvement approach in terms of managerial structure, leaderships, staff’s skills and knowledge, and investment of information technology in order to capacitate higher efficiency of e-collaborative process that would result in profit and competitive advantage.

Keywords: E-collaborative, E-commerce, B2C.

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