Retail stores often display large quantities of perishable products that they sell at full price over a given period and then at a discount until the end of the inventory cycle. We investigate this common practice by considering a product which is subject to continuous decay through time. The demand is a function of both the price of the product and the inventory level. The retailer may discount the product once during the cycle. Closed-form expressions were provided for the maximum discounting time and cycle time. The conditions under which an optimal discount policy exists were established. The results provide insights to decision-makers on how to design a markdown policy for perishable products. [Received: 9 November 2021; Accepted: 31 December 2022]

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In this paper, 20 enablers of blockchain adoption in Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM) are identified and analyzed using DEMATEL methodology. Our analysis uncovers how the identified enablers interact with each other and impact blockchain adoption in SSCM. Results show the primary importance of management commitment and support for adopting and implementing blockchain technology in SSCM. The results also point out the need for the technology to evolve, so that clearer governance rules for blockchains are adopted, and the interoperability with other IT systems is enhanced. Insights from our study are provided to help more informed decisions at the level of the adopting firms, the industry as a whole, as well as at the level of governments and regulations authorities.

Blockchain technology has been growing in importance and acceptability over the past few years. Yet, there is limited empirical research on the organizational and technology specific factors that play a critical role in driving its adoption in the supply chain. The purpose of this paper is to develop a comprehensive framework for blockchain adoption in the supply chain by identifying the enablers and empirically evaluating their interdependencies and impact on adoption. 20 enablers of blockchain adoption in the supply chain are identified using an extensive literature review and theoretical lenses from the Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) theory and the business technology adoption model developed by Iacovou, Benbassat and Dexter (1995). In the confirmatory phase, we employ the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method to extract logic from data collected from 37 French experts about the impact of the enablers and their interdependencies. Our paper extends the multi-theoretic empirical studies to blockchain technology and identifies the enablers of blockchain adoption from technological, organizational, supply chain and external environment perspectives. Regarding the importance of the categories of enablers, we find that the relative advantage of the technology and the external pressure are the most prominent categories of enablers that impact blockchain adoption in the supply chain. Our analysis also shows the important causal role on adoption of the potential of blockchain to reduce transaction cost, the consumer interest in traceability data and the establishment of a regulatory framework for blockchain usage.

The growing literature on game theory models in project management is reviewed in this paper. A systematic study that includes collecting materials, defining the structural dimensions and categories, presenting a descriptive analysis, and evaluating the results has been carried out. Application areas of game theory in project management were explored and the research gaps were identified. The literature review revealed the need for studying knowledge-sharing mechanisms to enhance project governance and cooperation, developing dynamic models to integrate various sources of uncertainty, optimizing different financial objective functions to improve the project's capital structure, developing integrated scheduling techniques to facilitate project planning and control, and formulating strategies to improve bidding under fierce competition. These findings contribute to identifying the promising directions in the management in engineering research.

This paper provides a systematic review and analysis of the game-theroy-based research in Green Supply Chains Management (GSCM). Based on a rigorous content analysis of 108 papers carefully selected from the literature, we present a detailed picture of the current state of this research and point to the promising future directions. Our analysis shows a rapid increase in the number of publications during the last three years, with an imbalance in the contribution of the publishing outlets, as nearly two third of the reviewed papers are published by only four journals. Results also show the dominance of deterministic static models and simple two-level SC structures. Developing stochastic models, considering the risk and the evolutionary nature that inherently characterise the business environment and investigating more complex multi-level SC structures are among the promising future research opportunities.

Workload smoothing on assembly lines, which aims to evenly assign tasks to stations, supports workforce planning and resource optimization. In this paper, we study smoothing assembly lines and develop a problem-specific heuristic to efficiently solve large-sized instances. To build solutions, the algorithm uses a number of well-known priority rules for task assignment in conjunction with a probabilistic decision-making procedure for closing workstations. We conduct an experimental design for selecting the best performing priority rules and for tuning the probabilistic decision-making procedure. The efficiency of our algorithm is tested and demonstrated through an extensive experimental study. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

This article presents a deterministic model for jointly optimising pricing and inventory control of a perishable product subject to both physical deterioration and freshness condition degradation. The demand for the product depends on its price, the current inventory level and the freshness condition. Our model allows for any positive amount of end-of-cycle inventory. Conditions for the existence and uniqueness of an optimal solution of the model are developed and an algorithm is suggested to find the optimal values of the price, the cycle length, the order quantity, and the end-of-cycle inventory. Then, numerical examples are given, and sensitivity analysis is performed. Our study contributes to satisfying the need for inventory models that consider simultaneous physical deterioration and freshness degradation of perishable products along with price-, age- and stock-dependent demand.

Big data analytics (BDA) are gaining importance in all aspects of business management. This is driven by both the presence of large-scale data and management's desire to root decisions in data. Extant research demonstrates that supply chain and operations management functions are among the biggest sources and users of data in the company. Therefore, their decision-making processes would benefit from increased use of BDA technologies. However, there is still a lack of understanding of what determines a company's ability to build BDA capability to gain a competitive advantage. In this study, we attempt to answer this fundamental question by identifying the factors that assist a company in or inhibit it from building its BDA capability and maximizing its gains through BDA technologies. We base our findings on a qualitative analysis of data collected from field visits, interviews with senior management, and secondary resources. We find that, in addition to technical capacity, competitive landscape and intra-firm power dynamics play an important role in building BDA capability and using BDA technologies.

This paper investigates product line expansion in which a green version of an existing conventional brown product is launched. We use a game-theoretic approach to study a supply chain consisting of one retailer and one manufacturer, either of which can be the leader of the supply chain. Our model assumes a market segmented based on the consumers' willingness to pay for the green feature of the product and incorporates a fixed cost related to launching the green product. Through our analysis, we define four pricing and positioning strategies for brown and green products. We explicitly express the conditions under which it is more profitable to expand the conventional product line with a green product and determine the region where each pricing strategy applies in the centralized system as well as in the two decentralized systems with each member as the leader of the supply chain. Our results also show that a manufacturer-led supply chain is better prepared than a retailer-led supply chain to overcome the fixed cost, launch the green product, and grasp benefits from the growth of the green consumer segment at an early stage of its development. We design two coordination mechanisms that allow the decentralized supply chain to achieve its first-best performance.

Workload smoothing techniques have been used to establish a balance among stations in assembly lines by assigning the tasks evenly to stations. Smoothing facilitates planning the workforce and optimizing the resource allocation problems. Considering these advantages, we address smoothing simple assembly line in this research and develop a problem specific heuristic algorithm to solve the large instances effectively. We test the effectiveness of the algorithm with experimental study.

In this study, we develop a branch and bound solution algorithm to solve the workload smoothing problem. Our algorithm incorporates new formulas for dynamically computing a lower bound on the optimal value of the objective function and for determining the earliest workstations for tasks. It also uses a fast heuristic for computing a good initial upper bound. A comprehensive experimental analysis is conducted in this study. The analysis demonstrates the outstanding performance of the algorithm and its efficiency in solving medium-sized workload smoothing problems.

This paper investigates product line expansion in which a green version of an existing conventional brown product is launched. We use a game-theoretic approach to study a supply chain consisting of one retailer and one manufacturer, either of which can be the leader of the supply chain. Our model assumes a market segmented based on the consumers’ willingness to pay for the green feature of the product and incorporates a fixed cost related to launching the green product. Through our analysis, we define four pricing and positioning strategies for brown and green products. We explicitly express the conditions under which it is more profitable to expand the conventional product line with a green product and determine the region where each pricing strategy applies in the centralized system as well as in the two decentralized systems with each member as the leader of the supply chain. Our results also show that a manufacturer-led supply chain is better prepared than a retailer-led supply chain to overcome the fixed cost, launch the green product, and grasp benefits from the growth of the green consumer segment at an early stage of its development. We design two coordination mechanisms that allow the decentralized supply chain to achieve its first-best performance.

In this study, we establish a set of 19 influential factors on the implementation of Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) practices and analyse the interaction between these factors and their effect on the implementation of GSCM practices using the Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM) method and the “Matrice d’Impacts Croisés Multiplication Appliquée à un Classement” (MICMAC) analysis on data compiled from interviews with supply chain (SC) executives based in the Gulf countries (Middle East region). The study reveals a strong influence and driving power of the nature of the relationships between SC partners on the implementation of GSCM practices. We especially found that dependence, trust, and durability of the relationship with SC partners have a very high influence. In addition, the size of the company, the top management commitment, the implementation of quality management and the employees training and education exert a critical influence on the implementation of GSCM practices. Contextual elements such as the industry sector and region and their effect on the prominence of specific factors are also highlighted through our study. Finally, implications for research and practice are discussed.

Various drivers push companies to implement Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) practices. However, implementing GSCM practices is always subject to a number of interacting factors (attributes, characteristics and practices) that characterize the companys organization and its relationships with other supply chain partners. This study contributes to understanding how such factors taken together interact as a system and influence the implementation of GSCM practices. We first identify a set of 19 influential factors on the implementation of GSCM practices. Then, we build a model that exhibits and structures the influence relationships between these factors, using the Interpretative Structural Modeling (ISM) method and the MICMAC analysis. The results of our study show that some organizational and inter-organizational factors have particularly high driving power and influence potential on the other factors that affect the implementation of GSCM practices by a company. Among these highly influential factors, we mention especially the relations with supply chain partners characterized by dependence, trust and/or long-term engagements, in addition to top management commitment and good management practices, such as the application of quality management and information and knowledge sharing.

Depuis son apparition vers la fin des annees 70, l'EDI s'est developpe progressivement pour occuper une place importante parmi les moyens d'echange d'information interentreprises. De nombreuses etudes ont montre l'apport de cette technologie notamment en termes de raccourcissement des temps de cycle, de reduction des erreurs et de faibles couts de transmission des informations. Cependant, peu de recherches terrain ont traite de sa contribution dans la transformation de l'organisation industrielle et logistique des partenaires commerciaux qui la mettent en place, objet de notre presente etude. Dans celle-ci, nous analysons le cas d'un constructeur automobile exigeant la connectivite par EDI avec l'ensemble de ses fournisseurs. Au-dela de ses retombees positives en termes d'allegement des couts administratifs, notre etude met en evidence la contribution de cette technologie de l'information et de communication dans la realisation de transformations strategiques de l'organisation industrielle et logistique du constructeur. En effet, l'utilisation de l'EDI avec ses fournisseurs est percue par le constructeur comme une condition de sa transition vers une strategie de production et de distribution a la commande et en flux tendus. Plus precisement, notre analyse montre que l'EDI est cense jouer le role d'une grammaire technique permettant de faire face a la complexite croissante des processus industriels et logistiques entre le constructeur et ses fournisseurs. Il devrait favoriser aussi le controle des flux par le constructeur d'une maniere centralisee et en temps reel, et faciliter pour lui le transfert de certaines tâches logistiques a ses fournisseurs.

Depuis son apparition vers la fin des annees 70, l'EDI s'est developpe progressivement pour occuper une place importante parmi les moyens d'echange d'information interentreprises. De nombreuses etudes ont montre l'apport de cette technologie notamment en termes de raccourcissement des temps de cycle, de reduction des erreurs et de faibles couts de transmission des informations. Cependant, peu de recherches terrain ont traite de sa contribution dans la transformation de l'organisation industrielle et logistique des partenaires commerciaux qui la mettent en place, objet de notre presente etude. Dans celle-ci, nous analysons le cas d'un constructeur automobile exigeant la connectivite par EDI avec l'ensemble de ses fournisseurs. Au-dela de ses retombees positives en termes d'allegement des couts administratifs, notre etude met en evidence la contribution de cette technologie de l'information et de communication dans la realisation de transformations strategiques de l'organisation industrielle et logistique du constructeur. En effet, l'utilisation de l'EDI avec ses fournisseurs est percue par le constructeur comme une condition de sa transition vers une strategie de production et de distribution a la commande et en flux tendus. Plus precisement, notre analyse montre que l'EDI est cense jouer le role d'une grammaire technique permettant de faire face a la complexite croissante des processus industriels et logistiques entre le constructeur et ses fournisseurs. Il devrait favoriser aussi le controle des flux par le constructeur d'une maniere centralisee et en temps reel, et faciliter pour lui le transfert de certaines tâches logistiques a ses fournisseurs.

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is becoming increasingly important, and new organizational forms based on EDI suppliers’ capabilities are emerging. Therefore, taking advantage of recent technological changes, especially the development of Web-based EDI systems, many big industrial buyers are seeking to get all their suppliers EDI-connected. Based on previous research on EDI adoption, we conducted a survey to study the opportunities of success of such a “100% EDI-connected suppliers” policy using data from the vehicle industry. Findings from our survey helped us to understand suppliers’ responses to such a policy and to provide recommendations to industrial buyers who are seeking to succeed in a “100% EDI-connected suppliers” project. This includes employing tailored communication strategies and selecting appropriate incentives that take into account different levels of suppliers’ EDI-capabilities and suppliers’ dependence.