Purpose – The design of distribution networks is prone to risks due to the uncertainties associated with factors that change over time. The purpose of this paper is to present a new method to identify those factors that the structure of a distribution network is most sensitive to....

The Law of Industrial Dynamics ensures that if a production control system can amplify then it will surely find a way of doing so despite the best efforts of production schedulers to take corrective action. In fact, practical studies show that such human intervention frequently aggravates the...

Describes the use of a decision support system (DSS) in part of a strategic supply chain initiative of an international automotive aftermarket organisation undertaken in 1996‐97. The strategic initiative consisted of four distinct stages; a review of the current state, definition of the future...

It is vital that an enterprise establishes the relative performance of its processes within any market sector. As an enterprise measures and monitors the performance of its competitors’ processes vis‐à‐vis their own, the enterprise can be described as initiating a benchmarking study. This...

Ocean transportation has been mainly studied from an economic and strategic point of view. This paper adopts an operations management approach aiming at the identification of the value-adding attributes that characterize the ocean transportation industry. This is achieved by using Johansson <italic> <italic>et...</italic></italic>

This paper shows the impact of using the net present value (NPV) on parameter selection in the ordering policy of a production planning and control system. Using a well understood and documented model, the net present value is used as an objective function to determine the discounted future...

People with seafaring experience and skills are employed in the maritime sector of the UK economy in land-based jobs as well as in seagoing ones. This paper examines the balance of supply and demand in the land-based jobs market. It then considers the likely effects of a shortfall in the supply...

The decline of the British shipping industry has had a significant impact on those sectors of the UK economy which have traditionally relied on ex-seafarers as a source of skilled labour. An in-depth study of the impacts of this problem was undertaken in 2003 to consider the implications of...

This paper examines how buying organisations can configure their supply networks to achieve supply chain flexibility. Supply chain flexibility can be rationalised by considering two key antecedents of flexibility, sourcing and vendor flexibility. Network co-ordinators can group their suppliers...