Kristian Rotaru

Formalizing process-based risk with Value-Focused Process Engineering

Following calls to advance the integration of risk and business process modeling paradigms, this paper formalizes the process of incorporating risk into business process models through the principles of Value-Focused Process Engineering (VFPE). In doing so, the paper aims to extend the existing VFPE modeling notation to reflect a set of necessary constructs required to adequately represent risk in goal-oriented business-process models. The extended set of constructs is proposed to support a formal systems view of process-based risk. Process-based risk is formalized on the one hand, as a product of complex interactions between activity-based elements, and on the other hand, as a natural component of the value creation mechanism of an elementary function or a complex process. The proposed risk-aware VFPE formalism also formulates rules for decomposing risk in process models according to the organizational values, thereby enabling better risk visibility, reducing process complexity, and ensuring continuity of business processes.

Analysis of SCOR’s approach to supply chain risk management

Purpose – SCOR 10.0, released in late 2010, is the second version of the supply chain operations reference model (SCOR) to incorporate risk management processes, metrics and best practices. Given the paucity of studies that have explored the coverage and integration of supply chain risk management (SCRM) within SCOR, the analysis and suggested improvements for SCRM are designed to enhance SCOR’s collaborative and coordinated management of supply chain (SC) risks. The paper aims to dicsuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – Critical analysis was used to analyse the coverage and integration of SCRM within SCOR 10.0. Findings – Discrepancies were identified in how SCRM has been incorporated into SCOR, including issues with the hierarchical representation of SCRM processes, metrics, best practices and skills. These may potentially propagate into difficulties in embedding risk management processes within other SC processes, visualizing risk metrics in a SC’s value hierarchy and reconciling SCOR’s SCRM...

Can critical realism enable a journey from description to understanding in operations and supply chain management

Purpose – The current state of theory-building in the field of operations and supply chain management (OSCM) is in a strong need of rigorous, empirically based theories that enhance understanding of the causal relationships between the structural elements and properties of the business processes. In this research note the authors propose the critical realism (CR) philosophy of science as a particularly suitable philosophical position (not to the exclusion of others) to review the mechanisms of OSCM knowledge generation and to provide philosophical grounding and methodological guidance for both OSCM theory building and testing. Design/methodology/approach – To demonstrate potential benefits of CR-based structured approach to knowledge generation in OSCM research, this conceptual paper uses a case study that illustrates the adoption of one of the OSCM theories – i.e. the theory of swift, even flow. Findings – CR interprets the accumulated empirical information about OSCM phenomena as observable manifestatio...

An analytical model for system-wide and tier-specific assessment of resilience to supply chain risks

Purpose Based on the emerging view of supply chains as complex adaptive systems, this paper aims to build and test an analytical model for resilience assessment surrounding supply chain risks at the level of the supply chain system and its individual tiers. Design/methodology/approach To address the purpose of this study, a multimethod research approach is adopted as follows: first, data envelopment analysis (DEA) modelling and fuzzy set theory are used to build a fuzzy network DEA model to assess risk resilience of the overall supply chains and their individual tiers; next, the proposed model is tested using a survey of 150 middle- and top-level managers representing nine industry sectors in Iran. Findings The survey results show a substantial variation in resilience ratings between the overall supply chains characterizing nine industry sectors in Iran and their individual tiers (upstream, downstream and organizational processes). The findings indicate that the system-wide characteristic of resilience of the overall supply chain is not necessarily indicative of the resilience of its individual tiers. Practical implications High efficiency scores of a number of tiers forming a supply chain are shown to have only a limited effect on the overall efficiency score of the resulting supply chain. Overall, our research findings confirm the necessity of adopting both the system-wide and tier-specific approach by analysts and decision makers when assessing supply chain resilience. Integrated as part of risk response and mitigation process, the information obtained through such analytical approach ensures timely identification and mitigation of major sources of risk in the supply chains. Originality/value Supply chain resilience assessment models rarely consider resilience to risks at the level of individual supply chain tiers, focusing instead on the system-wide characteristics of supply chain resilience. The proposed analytical model allows for the assessment of supply chain resilience among individual tiers for a wide range of supply chain risks categorized as upstream, downstream, organizational, network and external.

Modeling Risk Emergence and Propagation in Buyer-Supplier-Customer Relationships

The present study aims to identify and formalize the structural and relational patterns, which account for risk emergence and propagation in buyer-supplier-customer service triads. Following the guidelines of the design science research approach and based on the existing literature, buyer-supplier-customer service triads are categorized into a coherent typology according to the role that each supply chain dyad plays in the emergence and propagation of risk within the triad it forms. In the context of this study, such triads are referred to as Risk-aware Service Triads (RaSTs). To explore all the feasible forms of RaSTs, including the ones that have not yet been addressed in the literature, this study adopts the formalism of weighted directed graphs. As a result, a typology based on thirty different types of RaSTs is suggested. This typology allows: (i) to systematize and formally represent a variety of hypothetical scenarios when each of the dyadic structures within buyer-supplier-customer service triads acts as risk trigger, risk taker or risk neutral component of the respective RaST; and (ii) to calculate the maximal and minimal risk index specific to each of the identified type of RaST, thereby facilitating the identification and assessment of risk exposures associated with buyer-supplier-customer service triads. An illustrative example of how the methodological approach underlying the suggested RaST typology facilitates risk assessment in service triads and service networks is presented.