Purpose – To describe research and development (R&D) as a tool of strategic growth. The world's top performing companies share a common characteristic: their superior ability to develop and introduce new products faster and cheaper than their competitors. As a matter of fact, effective product...

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the merits of occupancy planning as a means for improving strategic decisions regarding real estate portfolios and strengthening the credibility of corporate real estate (CRE) professionals. Design/methodology/approach – The...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to use a conceptual model from literature for designing value recovery (VR) networks for three categories of post‐consumer product returns. Design/methodology/approach – A bi‐level optimization model is developed to determine the disposition...

Purpose – Double pressing systems have recently been introduced to speed up and improve the pressing step of porcelain stoneware tiles. This paper aims to analyze double pressing systems using discontinuous pre‐compaction, both technically and economically. Two operative conditions are...

Purpose – This paper aims to present a model of complex production processes, witch allows permanent optimisation of manufacturing technology to be accomplished. Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents theoretical fundamentals of building the model of manufacturing technology....

Purpose – Recent research has considered robotic machining as a dextrous alternative to traditional CNC machine tools for complex sculptured surfaces. One challenge in using robotic machining is that the stiffness is lower than traditional machine tools, due to the cantilever design of the...

Purpose – Reviews the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoints practical implications from cutting‐edge research and case studies. Design/methodology/approach – This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the...

The authors propose two variants of lexicographic preference rules. They obtain the necessary and sufficient conditions under which a linear utility function represents a standard lexicographic rule, and each of the proposed variants, over a set of discrete attributes. They then: (i)...

Purpose – The effect of corporate governance on firm performance has long been of great interest to financiers, economists, behavioural scientists, legal practitioners and business operators. Yet there is no consensus over what constitutes an effective corporate governance mechanism that...

Purpose – This paper seeks to examine the case of the multi‐period optimisation problem where decisions are obtained from a finite horizon model and will be implemented in a situation in which the system will operate indefinitely. Design/methodology/approach – The production planning...