Annibal José Scavarda

An operations management view of the services and goods offering mix

Purpose – To develop and propose a framework, termed here as the value package prism, for assessing the kinds of management processes and flexibility available in providing a range of value packages (services and goods offering mix).Design/methodology/approach – The literature is examined and a set of highly‐visible Latin‐American examples are presented to support the development of the proposed framework.Findings – Provides an additional perspective to the traditional set of characteristics (intangibility, inseparability, heterogeneity, and perishability) for differentiating services and goods. The proposed framework (stockability, intensity of interaction, simultaneousness of consumption, and ease of performance assessment) and the value prism may be useful to operations managers in developing, planning, organizing, or controlling the production and delivery of services or goods.Originality/value – Offers a new framework and an applied way to improve operations management by moving away from the extreme...

RFID in the international cattle supply chain: context, consumer privacy and legislation

This paper aims to describe the use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) in live cattle supply chain in Australia, Canada, Europe, Japan and the USA. This paper also discusses three themes about RFID in the international cattle chain: the context of RFIDs use, the legislation and consumer privacy. This last theme represents a huge problem to countries that use RFID. They have to create laws to support their discussions about RFID when they evaluate the cost/benefit relation. Global markets require traceability to control the quality of products. The food safety is considered, too. Some operations could be more controlled by RFID, such as processing. This research uses a qualitative method based on documents, scientific papers and secondary data from these countries.

Managing the Operational Effectiveness in Services Using Technological Innovation

There is evidence that many businesses are investing in complex technological innovations such as enterprise information systems with the aim of improving their operations. This technological innovation, however, tends to have a disproportionate focus on either the purity of the system (system effectiveness), or the operational effectiveness. The resulting lack of alignment is detrimental to the long-term enterprise benefits because of failure to achieve the real value of innovation. Although the literature has discussed system effectiveness and operational effectiveness extensively, there has not been a comprehensive discussion in regard to the alignment between the system effectiveness outcomes of a technological innovation and the operational effectiveness outcomes. This study explores the linkages and interactions between the two previously defined models, examining the influence of several organisational factors, such as strategies, on achieving an alignment that maximises benefit to the enterprise. This research uses a qualitative approach, based on unstructured and structured interviews with employees at different levels of two large service organisations, to build on the existing literature and to further confirm and refine a theoretical framework.

Application of an IT Evaluation Method: Case Studies in American Ranches

This paper presents an application of an information technology (IT) evaluation method in three ranches in the American (United States) cattle chain. This method was built on some information systems (IS), IT, and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) evaluation models, according to its focus (RFID technical aspects). Some IT is used to trace products from their source until their destination. Traceability systems are more general than identification systems, which are the central focus, RFID being the paradigm example. Although some ranchers have used RFID tags to help monitor animal health and quality, they frequently supplement RFID with plastic ear tags to reduce cost. Taking a qualitative approach, the results of this study are derived from case studies with interviews.

Tecnologia na cadeia produtiva bovina internacional : o uso da RFID na rastreabilidade da carne bovina.

Este artigo tem por objetivo discutir a Identificacao por Radio Frequencia (Radio Frequency Identification - RFID) para a rastreabilidade da cadeia produtiva internacional de carne bovina. Sera apresentado, um historico desta tecnologia, alem de uma discussao de suas vantagens e desvantagens. Atualmente, alguns paises produtores como a Australia, Estados Unidos, Canada e consumidores como o Japao e alguns paises da Uniao Europeia tiveram de intensificar o controle de qualidade do produto ao longo da cadeia produtiva. Para isso, tem utilizado novas tecnologias para rastrear seus produtos, a fim de atenderem as exigencias dos mercados externo e interno. Entre estas tecnologias encontra-se a RFID. O artigo demonstra que, embora esta tecnologia seja potencialmente aplicavel e traga inumeras vantagens aos agentes que a utilizarem, a sua aplicacao na pratica ainda suscita discussoes e duvidas, principalmente quanto ao seu custo de implementacao.