William Yu Chung Wang

Aligning Business Process Reengineering in Implementing Global Supply Chain Systems by the SCOR Model

As supply chains continue to replace individual companies as the management arena for value-adding from the beginning of the twenty first century, understanding the supply chain management practices in a globalisation context becomes increasingly important. The Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) Model, which was developed by the experts and practitioners of the Supply Chain Council, is a major framework for supply chain planning that features supply chain management practices and business process reengineering. Despite being an integrative guide with many merits, it only provides a ‘top-down’ approach that requires the comparative analyses of post- and pro-performance indices as a basis of business process modification. This study discusses the limitations of current SCOR analysis and provides a mapping technique—Causes/Effects, the SCOR Standard, and Mutual Solution (CESM)—for gap mapping, problem prioritisation, and business process modification in a supply chain setting. As such, it is one of the early empirical studies combining BPR and SCM disciplines. The research results can facilitate the implementation processes of multinational supply chain projects by identifying the gaps and linking them to the channel entities.

Flexibility and adaptability in supply chains: a lesson learnt from a practitioner

Purpose – Facing uncertain demand and supply, customers and suppliers are encouraged to make their supply chain more flexible and adaptive to the environment. The primary objective of this paper is to gain an understanding of the issues surrounding flexibility and adaptability in supply chain management from an industrial practitioner.Design/methodology/approach – A semi‐structured interview and follow up interviews were conducted with a logistics manager of a renowned international company.Findings – The study supports that the aforementioned characteristics, flexibility and adaptability, are useful in practical supply chain applications. Some practical advice is also reported.Originality/value – This paper bridges the gap between academic theoretical studies and the expectations from an industrial practitioner regarding flexibility and adaptability in supply chain management. A similar study could be extended to more industrial practitioners in order to collect more useful opinions from them.

Does big data mean big knowledge? KM perspectives on big data and analytics

Purpose This viewpoint study aims to make the case that the field of knowledge management (KM) must respond to the significant changes that big data/analytics is bringing to operationalizing the production of organizational data and information. Design/methodology/approach This study expresses the opinions of the guest editors of “Does Big Data Mean Big Knowledge? Knowledge Management Perspectives on Big Data and Analytics”. Findings A Big Data/Analytics-Knowledge Management (BDA-KM) model is proposed that illustrates the centrality of knowledge as the guiding principle in the use of big data/analytics in organizations. Research limitations/implications This is an opinion piece, and the proposed model still needs to be empirically verified. Practical implications It is suggested that academics and practitioners in KM must be capable of controlling the application of big data/analytics, and calls for further research investigating how KM can conceptually and operationally use and integrate big data/analytics to foster organizational knowledge for better decision-making and organizational value creation. Originality/value The BDA-KM model is one of the early models placing knowledge as the primary consideration in the successful organizational use of big data/analytics.

A systems approach to order fulfilment using design for six sigma methodology

Supply Chain Management (SCM) focuses on a business process approach with an emphasis on having a holistic view of the value chain, customer driven demand and the need to manage successfully both the internal functional and external business process interfaces. In this paper an adaptation of Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) methodology for designing and managing a supply chain is presented, demonstrating how Order fulfilment is one of the major Critical to Customer Requirements (CCRs) for a supply chain. A detailed explanation of the DFSS steps Identify, Design, Optimise and Validate (IDOV) as adapted to supply chain service is illustrated.

An integrated big data analytics-enabled transformation model: Application to health care

Abstract A big data analytics-enabled transformation model based on practice-based view is developed, which reveals the causal relationships among big data analytics capabilities, IT-enabled transformation practices, benefit dimensions, and business values. This model was then tested in healthcare setting. By analyzing big data implementation cases, we sought to understand how big data analytics capabilities transform organizational practices, thereby generating potential benefits. In addition to conceptually defining four big data analytics capabilities, the model offers a strategic view of big data analytics. Three significant path-to-value chains were identified for healthcare organizations by applying the model, which provides practical insights for managers.

A comprehensive model for supply chain integration

Purpose – Extant research on supply chain integration defines integration in different ways, and mainly discusses a limited number of integration elements. The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual integration model which consists of comprehensive elements that are important to academic research and industrial practices. Design/methodology/approach – Key literature survey with drawing threads of existing practices together for developing a systematic referential model and then verify the model with a real case. Findings – Developed a model consisting of integration elements residing at the strategic, managerial, operational, and fundamental levels (bottom line). Based on the benefit alignment, the total integration requires supply chain partners to integrate resource flows (material, information, knowledge, and finance), processes and organization, planning and control activities and strategy. Research limitations/implications – The research is based on secondary data and a case study illustrat...

Implementing design for six sigma to supply chain design

The changing paradigms in manufacturing in the global market since the late 1990s have seen the emergence of more collaborative manufacturing ventures, an increase in outsourcing and a review of the relationship between manufacturing, operations management and logistics and their place in the overall supply chain. Building effective supply chains has become a way to develop a firms competitiveness and profitability requiring firms to make the shift from a functionally based organisation to one focused on business processes, first internally and then across the supply chain members. Consequently supply chain members must have measurable outcomes that reflect bottom line improvement in supply chain processes and research is required to understand how to identify appropriate supply chain metrics, implement them and measure results. Generic supply chain frameworks such as the supply chain operations reference (SCOR) model aim to develop a common supply chain approach for firms with an emphasis on benchmarking but there is some criticism that broader frameworks are required so that managers can link supply chain improvement to strategic plans, key performance indicators and improvement goals. This paper presents design for six sigma (DFSS) as a versatile methodology for approaching supply chain design and performance measurement. The demand management process is described as a critical to customer requirements (CCRs) and its importance to business performance elaborated.

Gauging the Differences between Expectation and Systems Support: The Managerial Approach of Adaptive and Perfective Software Maintenance

Abstract. Differences in the type and nature of tasks insoftware development and maintenance require acareful selection of separate methods and procedures tohandle each task. A great deal of academic andpractical attention has been devoted to studyingmethods of developing software; considerably lessattention has been devoted to studying the managementof software once implemented. Also, current researchhas been focused on the technical side of the softwaremaintenance (e.g., development of models and tools)and completely ignores the managerial side. Thisresearch gap initiates the knowledge niche forresearchers and practitioners to further investigate themanagement issues in the software maintenanceprocess. In this paper, we assimilate previous researchin the software maintenance management area andaddress three major management challenges associatedwith the software maintenance.

Information Security Compliance Behaviour of Supply Chain Stakeholders: Influences and Differences

Supply chain security is an emerging topic in the supply chain management literature. Information security is a key component of supply chain security, and this study aims to identify the factors that influence the compliance behaviour with respect to information security. A related objective is to understand the extent to which compliance was substantive or symbolic. Adopting a qualitative approach, the authors conducted semi-structured interviews with stakeholders based in New Zealand who are involved in international supply chains. The interviews find that compliance behaviour is affected by the influence of other organizations, organizational perceptions of compliance, and the rules and norms of exchange in different contexts. The results also indicate that compliance behaviour is more symbolic than substantive in the supply chain environment.

Facilitating the Merger of Multinational Companies: A Case Study of the Global Virtual Enterprise

This paper reports on case research investigating the challenges presented by a newly formed supply chain after a merger and acquisition M&A and the subsequent solution-the enactment of a global virtual enterprise GVE. Adaptive Structuration Theory AST is used as a lens to view and understand the transformational effects that occurred after the merger and the adoption of the GVE. A case study approach was adopted with empirical data collected from corporate web sites, direct participation in the project, and in-depth interviews with the two merged multinational supply networks set in Asia the sub-ordinates are based in China, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam and North America sites in Canada and the U.S.. The major problems encountered in the M&A process in the supply chain included incompatible product codes, redundant business processes, no unified ERP platforms, conflict of interests of supply chain entities, etc. The findings show the GVE approach improved the efficiency and effectiveness of this global acquisition through the re-alignment of organizational structures and personnel. Implications for practice and the further application of AST to the study of global supply chains and M&A are raised.