Tonci Grubic

Supply chain ontology: Review, analysis and synthesis

In an environment where supply chains compete against supply chains, information sharing among supply chain partners using information systems is a competitive tool. Supply chain ontology has been proposed as an important medium for attaining information systems interoperability. Ontology has its origin in philosophy, and the computing community has adopted ontology in its language. This paper presents a study of state of the art research in supply chain ontology and identifies the outstanding research gaps. Six supply chain ontology models were identified from a systematic review of literature. A seven point comparison framework was developed to consider the underlying concepts as well as application of the ontology models. The comparison results were then synthesised into nine gaps to inform future supply chain ontology research. This work is a rigorous and systematic attempt to identify and synthesise the research in supply chain ontology.

Servitization and remote monitoring technology

Purpose – Servitization centres on the transfer of risks from the customer to manufacturer. By providing real-time information about current and predicted health of a product in the field, remote monitoring technology can mitigate some of those risks. Although recognised as one of the key enablers of servitization, the mainstream servitization research community has shown very little interest in this topic. The aim is to identify and critically analyse relevant research addressing the topic of remote monitoring technology and servitization and, based on this analysis, propose an agenda to guide future research in this area. Design/methodology/approach – The methodology adopted is literature review consisting of three steps: define purpose and research questions, select keywords and databases, and identify and analyse relevant papers. Findings – Ten findings have been made, which characterise current state of research under categories of examples, benefits, and challenges of using remote monitoring technol...

Inter-organisational costing approaches - the inhibiting factors

– The purpose of this paper is to highlight the limitations of current accounting practices in an inter‐organisational context; introduce contemporary costing approaches used in inter‐organisational costing (IOC) programmes; and identify the inhibitors of successful implementation of IOC programmes., – The paper uses a structured review of empirical and theoretical literature., – Traditional accounting practices do not adequately fulfil their role in the inter‐organisational context. Contemporary accounting practices overcome only some limitations of traditional accounting practices. The paper uncovers part of the complexity surrounding the implementation of IOC programmes and suggests that we are dealing with a broad inter‐disciplinary phenomenon., – Conclusions are drawn on a conceptual level and further empirical investigation is encouraged., – The paper raises the awareness of the complexity surrounding the implementation of IOC programmes. The broad set of inhibiting factors could be effectively used by managers to assess the readiness of organisations involved in implementation of IOC programmes., – This research is the first that systematically addresses the problem of inhibitors in the implementation of IOC programmes. The broad scope of the paper sets the foundations for more focused research into specific inhibiting factors.

Towards the integrative supply chain model

Although empirical studies show that supply chain integration is associated with high levels of business and operational performance, some authors argue that there is no need to pursue total end-to-end supply chain integration and different or relationship-by-relationship approaches are needed. This paper introduces the first step in the development of the business process model, which might facilitate the building of closer relationships among businesses and therefore endorse supply chain integration. The aim of this paper is to determine whether there is some generic set of supply chain processes, which support material and information flows in a dyadic relationship. Through the literature review, two supply chain process frameworks (SCPFs), namely supply chain operations reference and global supply chain forum, have been identified together with nine evaluation criteria. Evaluation results provide evidence on the generic set of supply chain processes together with the insights into specific advantages and common shortcomings of these two widely recognised SCPFs.

The adoption and use of diagnostic and prognostic technology within UK-based manufacturers:

Manufacturers are seeking increasingly innovative ways to achieve competitive advantage. An emerging trend is to exploit diagnostic and prognostic technology to support service-led competitive strategies where the emphasis is put on the ‘sale of use’ rather than the ‘sale of product’. However, little is known about the extent to which this technology is being exploited, the drivers and inhibitors, and the sectors where adoption is most prolific. This paper introduces the results of a survey conducted across the UK manufacturing sector to explore the extent, motivations, benefits, and challenges of deploying diagnostic and prognostic technology as an element of competitive strategy.

Integrating process and ontology to support supply chain modelling

Many researchers have recognised a lack of common framework to support supply chain modelling and analysis and proposed their solutions accordingly. Majority of the approaches proposed are more concerned with building an object model of a supply chain than identifying processes that realistically describe a supply chain. Although object models provide means or building blocks necessary to model and analyse different elements of a supply chain, absence of supply chain processes promotes a ‘black box’ view on the supply chain. This study proposes an ontology model specifically developed to support supply chain process modelling and analysis. It is based on a premise that prior identification of processes the ontology is supposed to support facilitates the ontology development and validation. This study introduces development, validation and application of supply chain ontology to support supply chain process modelling and analysis.

Servitized manufacturing firms competing through remote monitoring technology

Purpose – Remote monitoring technology (RMT) is widely acknowledged as an important enabler of servitisation however, there is a dearth of understanding about how RMT is used by manufacturing firms to support servitised strategies. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to this important yet somewhat ignored topic in servitisation research. It attempts to address the following questions: what has constrained, and what has enabled the exploitation of RMT in the context of servitised strategies? Design/methodology/approach – The research adopts an exploratory multiple-case study design. Four in-depth descriptive case studies of companies operating in aerospace, industrial equipment, marine, and transport sectors were conducted. The collected data were analysed and synthesised, drawing out conclusions. Findings – The study describes how four manufacturers are using RMT and identifies ten factors that have enabled and constrained the realisation of expected outcomes. The enabling factors identified includ...

Integrating Process and Ontology for Supply Chain Modelling

This paper introduces an ontology model developed to support supply chain process modelling. Supply chain provides the business context for achieving interoperability of enterprise systems. It is observed that the emphasis on ontology development for enterprise interoperability could result in information models that are not relevant to real business needs. This work explicitly defines the generic business processes relevant to supply chain operations and develops the ontology that was tested in the creation of the information model to support the information exchange needs three industry case studies. It demonstrated that prior identification of processes the ontology is supposed to support facilitates its development and also its subsequent validation. This paper introduces the overall ontology development approach together with some of the findings that summarizes our experiences in developing the ontology model to support supply chain process modelling.