Soroosh Saghiri

Supply chain alignment for improved business performance: an empirical study

Purpose – This study aims to explain how supply chain alignment, which remains a major challenge for supply chains, can be achieved and its implications for business performance (BP) by testing the strengths of the relationships between previously identified enablers, supply chain alignment and BP. Design/methodology/approach – A literature review develops hypotheses on the relationships between enablers, alignment and BP. A survey of medium-to-large UK manufacturing companies was conducted where the sample comprised 151 randomly selected companies, and the response rate was 56 per cent. Partial least square regression was used to test the hypothesis. Findings – Two types of supply chain alignment are defined – shareholder and customer – but only customer alignment (CA) has a direct positive impact on BP, while shareholder alignment (SA) is its antecedent. Top management support was shown to be an enabler of both shareholder and CA, while organisation structure, information sharing and performance measure...

A comprehensive fuzzy multi-objective model for supplier selection process

Supplier selection is understood as one of the key processes in strategic decision making level in Supply Chains (SC). This paper develops a comprehensive multiple products and multiple suppliers model for this process. Moreover, various targets are discussed and analyzed in the form of objectives, in addition to related constraints. Such model development is fulfilled in a real-world situation with wide ranges of uncertainties. In this paper, a fuzzy decision making model is presented. In the proposed Fuzzy Multiple Objectives Decision Making (FMODM) model, all goals, constraints, variables and coefficients are fuzzy. It is shown that with the application of the fuzzy methodology, the complex multi-objective problem is converted to a single one that can be solved and interpreted easily.

Supplier relationship impacts on postponement strategies

The main purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of the supplier relationship on postponement implementation in the buying firm. The links between three supplier relationship constructs and three postponement constructs are hypothesised and tested through structural modelling. These hypotheses are then tested using empirical data of a sample of 219 manufacturing firms. The findings suggest that the ability of the buying firm to delay product design decisions (postponement in product design) is positively related to the level of supplier commitment, supplier expectation of a continuing relationship with the buyer, and level of joint buyer and supplier actions. However, the buying firm’s ability to delay purchasing decisions about which items to order or how many to order (postponement in purchasing operations) was only positively related to the level of joint buyer and supplier actions. By contrast, the buying firm’s ability to delay the final product configuration (postponement in production operations) was not directly affected by those aspects of the supplier relationship investigated. These findings give greater insight into how different aspects of supplier relationship impact different types of postponement than previous research and have significant implications for practice.

A structural approach to assessing postponement strategies: construct development and validation

This paper endeavours to introduce and validate constructs and measured variables for postponement strategies. Although empirical researchers have examined postponement, a consistent set of valid, reliable factors has not been developed and used. The lack of valid constructs is a barrier to hypothesis testing and meta-analysis on postponement. Using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), the validity and reliability of the proposed postponement constructs are examined. This is performed through a pilot study and a large scale survey on a sample of 219 manufacturing firms which represent a wide range of manufacturing operations. The outcomes of this paper establish a set of variables which can measure shipment, manufacturing, purchasing and design postponements.

Five crisp and fuzzy models for supply chain of an automotive manufacturing system

Abstract Supply Chain Management (SCM) is a new approach to production planning. It integrates the components of supply chain in a holistic manner. Modeling this large-scale system, which contains all effective enterprises in production such as raw material suppliers, part manufacturers, assembly plants, distribution organizations, and the like, is challenging for managers, engineers and researchers. This paper concentrates on supply chain system modeling with fuzzy linear programming, and fuzzy expert system for an automobile plant. First, a linear programming model is developed in such a way that while the input data is fuzzy, the constraints are crisp. In the second linear model, the coefficients of the model are crisp while the constraints are fuzzy. In the third model, we aggregate the first and the second models into one fuzzy linear programming where all constraints and coefficients are fuzzy. In each case, we compare the results with those of classical SC models. Finally, a rule based fuzzy expert system for SC is developed and the results are compared with those of the classical and fuzzy LP models. The results of the fuzzy expert system show its superiority over the former crisp and fuzzy linear programming models.

Critical role of supply chain decoupling point in mass customisation from its upstream and downstream information systems point of view

Mass customization is a business strategy that aims at satisfying an individual customer’s needs with near mass production efficiency. Mass Customization Information Systems in Business provides original and innovative research on IT systems for mass customization. It is a wide-ranging reference collection of chapters describing the solutions, tools, and concepts needed for successful realization of these systems. Mass customized markets, product modeling, and supply chain management are explored in precise detail. This Premier Reference Source provides a comprehensive investigation of the business processes required for manufacturing individualized products.

Go for gold – winning the supply chain triathlon: creating social, economic and environmental value

Cranfield University, School of Management hosted the 17th annual conference of the Logistics Research Network (LRN 2012) – the premier event of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (UK). The conference held at Cranfield Management Development Centre from 5 to 7 September. LRN conference is well recognised as one of the leading European summits in the fields of logistics, supply chain and freight transport management, where both academic researchers and practitioners present and discuss their research results, current practices, new ideas and future plans. In 2012, the conference attracted 151 delegates from over 20 countries. Totally 92 papers were scheduled for presentation in various research areas including: collaborative planning, event logistics, food supply chains, global supply networks, sustainability and green logistics, humanitarian logistics, IT/e-supply management, lean and agile supply chains, performance measurement, simulation and modelling, supplier relationship management, supply chain risk, supply chain structures, transport operations and planning, and multimodal transport. LRN 2012 also enjoyed the keynote speakers from various logistics and supply chain sectors including: Neil Ashworth (Collect+), Robin Proctor (Travis Perkins), Richard Hunt (London Ambulance Authority), Anthony Spence (The British Museum), and Professor Martin Christopher (Cranfield School of Management). The theme of LRN 2012 was ‘Winning the Supply Chain Triathlon: Creating Social, Economic and Environmental Value’. The contributions to the conference demonstrated the enthusiasm and energy the LRN community has for sustainability issues in research and practice. The contributions included driving positive changes, developing and prototyping new ideas, and creating new paradigms. Social responsibility will be a crucial component and driver of future supply chain competitiveness, and for many organisations, sustainability is already a well-established key performance factor. This special issue of International Journal of Logistics comprises the extended editions of a selection of the most insightful papers from LRN 2012. The papers were selected based on the quality and maturity of research, and their compatibility with the current themes and future directions of the journal. The initial selected papers were all sent to reviewers, and four of them passed the multiple rounds of blind reviews successfully. The final accepted papers are illustrative of the diverse and stimulating contributions that were made. The first paper, ‘Can Locker Box Logistics Enable More Human Centric Medical Supply Chains?’ by Bailey et al., addresses the significance of external–internal supply chain interface in hospitals where the quick delivery of items has very high urgency. The paper recommends and studies the feasibility of unattended electronic locker banks to which individual urgent items