With advancing information technology, businesses must adapt to more efficient structures that utilize the latest in robotics and machine learning capabilities in order to create optimal human-robot cooperation. However, there are vital rising concerns regarding the possible consequences of deploying artificial intelligence, sophisticated robotic technologies, automated vehicles, self-managing supply modes, and blockchain economies on business performance and culture, including how to sustain a supportive business culture and to what extent a strategic fit between human-robot collaboration in a business ecosystem can be created. The Handbook of Research on Strategic Fit and Design in Business Ecosystems is a collection of innovative research that builds a futuristic view of evolving business ecosystems and a deeper understanding of business transformation processes in the new digital business era. Featuring research on topics such as cultural hybridization, Industry 4.0, and cybersecurity, this book is ideally designed for entrepreneurs, executives, managers, corporate strategists, economists, IT specialists, IT consultants, engineers, students, researchers, and academicians seeking to improve their understanding of future competitive business practices with the adoption of robotic and information technologies.

"Advances in Bio-inspired Combinatorial Optimization Problems" illustrates several recent bio-inspired efficient algorithms for solving NP-hard problems. Theoretical bio-inspired concepts and models, in particular for agents, ants and virtual robots are described. Large-scale optimization problems, for example: the Generalized Traveling Salesman Problem and the Railway Traveling Salesman Problem, are solved and their results are discussed. Some of the main concepts and models described in this book are: inner rule to guide ant search - a recent model in ant optimization, heterogeneous sensitive ants; virtual sensitive robots; ant-based techniques for static and dynamic routing problems; stigmergic collaborative agents and learning sensitive agents. This monograph is useful for researchers, students and all people interested in the recent natural computing frameworks. The reader is presumed to have knowledge of combinatorial optimization, graph theory, algorithms and programming. The book should furthermore allow readers to acquire ideas, concepts and models to use and develop new software for solving complex real-life problems.

For many years companies have been investing in enterprise systems and IT initiatives but they are now struggling to achieve the desired results. It takes a long time to make the best of your enterprise systems so businesses must stop looking for the next technology 'silver bullet' and instead maximize the value of existing IT investments

In two volumes, Planning Production and Inventories in the Extended Enterprise: A State of the Art Handbook examines production planning across the extended enterprise against a backdrop of important gaps between theory and practice. The early chapters describe the multifaceted nature of production planning problems and reveal many of the core complexities. The middle chapters describe recent research on theoretical techniques to manage these complexities. Accounts of production planning system currently in use in various industries are included in the later chapters. Throughout the two volumes there are suggestions on promising directions for future work focused on closing the gaps. Included in Volume 1 are papers on the Historical Foundations of Manufacturing Planning and Control; Advanced Planning and Scheduling Systems; Sustainable Product Development and Manufacturing; Uncertainty and Production Planning; Demand Forecasting; Production Capacity; Data in Production and Supply Chain Planning; Financial Uncertainty in SC Models; Field Based Research in Production Control; Collaborative SCM; Sequencing and Coordination in Outsourcing and Subcontracting Operations; Inventory Management; Pricing, Variety and Inventory Decisions for Substitutable Items; Perishable and Aging Inventories; Optimization Models of Production Planning Problems; Aggregate Modeling of Manufacturing Systems; Robust Stability Analysis of Decentralized Supply Chains; Simulation in Production Planning; and Simulation-Optimization in Support of Tactical and Strategic Enterprise Decisions. Included in Volume 2 are papers on Workload and Lead-Time Considerations under Uncertainty; Production Planning and Scheduling; Production Planning Effects on Dynamic Behavior of A Simple Supply Chain; Supply and Demand in Assemble-to-Order Supply Chains; Quantitative Risk Assessment in Supply Chains; A Practical Multi-Echelon Inventory Model with Semiconductor Application; Supplier Managed Inventory for Custom Items with Long Lead Times; Decentralized Supply Chain Formation; A Cooperative Game Approach to Procurement Network Formation; Flexible SC Contracts with Options; Build-to-Order Meets Global Sourcing for the Auto Industry; Practical Modeling in Automotive Production; Discrete Event Simulation Models; Diagnosing and Tuning a Statistical Forecasting System; Enterprise-Wide SC Planning in Semiconductor and Package Operations; Production Planning in Plastics; SC Execution Using Predictive Control; Production Scheduling in The Pharmaceutical Industry; Computerized Scheduling for Continuous Casting in Steelmaking; and Multi-Model Production Planning and Scheduling in an Industrial Environment.

This handbook surveys important stochastic problems and models in manufacturing system operations and their stochastic analysis. Using analytical models to design and control manufacturing systems and their operations entail critical stochastic performance analysis as well as integrated optimization models of these systems. Topics deal with the areas of facilities planning, transportation, and material handling systems, logistics and supply chain management, and integrated productivity and quality models covering: * Stochastic modeling and analysis of manufacturing systems * Design, analysis, and optimization of manufacturing systems * Facilities planning, transportation, and material handling systems analysis * Production planning, scheduling systems, management, and control * Analytical approaches to logistics and supply chain management * Integrated productivity and quality models, and their analysis * Literature surveys of issues relevant in manufacturing systems * Case studies of manufacturing system operations and analysis Today's manufacturing system operations are becoming increasingly complex. Advanced knowledge of best practices for treating these problems is not always well known. The purpose of the book is to create a foundation for the development of stochastic models and their analysis in manufacturing system operations. Given the handbook nature of the volume, introducing basic principles, concepts, and algorithms for treating these problems and their solutions is the main intent of this handbook. Readers unfamiliar with these research areas will be able to find a research foundation for studying these problems and systems.

Written by the world's leading academics in the outsourcing field, this books gives the most recent overview of developments in research and practice. It focuses on new practices in innovation, offshoring, onshoring, capabilities, project management and cloud services, offering a distinctive theory of outsourcing.

From the Preface: Blending ideas from operations research, music psychology, music theory, and cognitive science, this book aims to tell a coherent story of how tonality pervades our experience, and hence our models, of music. The story is told through the developmental stages of the Spiral Array model for tonality, a geometric model designed to incorporate and represent principles of tonal cognition, thereby lending itself to practical applications of tonal recognition, segmentation, and visualization. Mathematically speaking, the coils that make up the Spiral Array model are in effect helices, a spiral referring to a curve emanating from a central point. The use of "spiral" here is inspired by spiral staircases, intertwined spiral staircases: nested double helices within an outer spiral. The book serves as a compilation of knowledge about the Spiral Array model and its applications, and is written for a broad audience, ranging from the layperson interested in music, mathematics, and computing to the music scientist-engineer interested in computational approaches to music representation and analysis, from the music-mathematical and computational sciences student interested in learning about tonality from a formal modeling standpoint to the computer musician interested in applying these technologies in interactive composition and performance. Some chapters assume no musical or technical knowledge, and some are more musically or computationally involved.

This book, discusses the latest research on the intelligent control of two important components in smart grids, namely microgrids (MGs) and electric vehicles (EVs). It focuses on developing theoretical frameworks and proposing corresponding algorithms, to optimally schedule virtualized elements under different uncertainties so that the total cost of operating the microgrid or the EV charging system can be minimized and the systems maintain stabilized. With random factors in the problem formulation and corresponding designed algorithms, it provides insights into how to handle uncertainties and develop rational strategies in the operation of smart grid systems. Written by leading experts, it is a valuable resource for researchers, scientists and engineers in the field of intelligent management of future power grids.

Mass customization (MC) has been hailed as a successful operations strategy across manufacturing and service industries for the past three decades. However, the wider implications of using MC approaches in the broader industrial and economic environment are not yet clearly understood. Mass Customization: Engineering and Managing Global Operations presents emerging research on the role of MC and personalization in today's international operations context. The chapters cover MC in the context of global industrial economics and operations. Moreover, the book discusses MC topics that are relevant to the manufacturing and service sectors, such as: * product platforms; * learning curve modeling; * additive manufacturing; and * service customization. Case studies in manufacturing (e.g., apparel and transportation) and services (e.g., banking and virtual worlds) are also included. Mass Customization: Engineering and Managing Global Operations is a valuable text for mass customization researchers and practitioners. Researchers will find a selection of chapters prepared by internationally renowned authors, comprising most of their recent research in MC. Engineering professionals will be drawn by the vivid discussion of operational aspects and methods of MC, as well as by the selection of cases illustrating their practical application.

Through key research papers from Palgrave's Journal of Operational Research, this book showcases how Operational Research can be applied to sports in a variety of ways, including: timetabling fixtures; scheduling officials; forecasting outcomes; optimizing tactics and strategy; analyzing the effects of rules and laws; planning issues, and performance measurement. The introductory chapter provides a broad overview with an examination of how this area has developed over time, and a look at its wide ranging applications to sports including football, tennis and cricket etc.

Multiple criteria decision aid (MCDA) methods are illustrated in this book through theoretical and computational techniques utilizing Python. Existing methods are presented in detail with a step by step learning approach. Theoretical background is given for TOPSIS, VIKOR, PROMETHEE, SIR, AHP, goal programming, and their variations. Comprehensive numerical examples are also discussed for each method in conjunction with easy to follow Python code. Extensions to multiple criteria decision making algorithms such as fuzzy number theory and group decision making are introduced and implemented through Python as well. Readers will learn how to implement and use each method based on the problem, the available data, the stakeholders involved, and the various requirements needed. Focusing on the practical aspects of the multiple criteria decision making methodologies, this book is designed for researchers, practitioners and advanced graduate students in the applied mathematics, information systems, operations research and business administration disciplines, as well as other engineers and scientists oriented in interdisciplinary research. Readers will greatly benefit from this book by learning and applying various MCDM/A methods. (Adiel Teixeira de Almeida, CDSID-Center for Decision System and Information Development, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil) Promoting the development and application of multicriteria decision aid is essential to ensure more ethical and sustainable decisions. This book is a great contribution to this objective. It is a perfect blend of theory and practice, providing potential users and researchers with the theoretical bases of some of the best-known methods as well as with the computing tools needed to practice, to compare and to put these methods to use. (Jean-Pierre Brans, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium) This book is intended for researchers, practitioners and students alike in decision support who wish to familiarize themselves quickly and efficiently with multicriteria decision aiding algorithms. The proposed approach is original, as it presents a selection of methods from the theory to the practical implementation in Python, including a detailed example. This will certainly facilitate the learning of these techniques, and contribute to their effective dissemination in applications. (Patrick Meyer, IMT Atlantique, Lab-STICC, Univ. Bretagne Loire, Brest, France)

This volume presents a collection of contributions dedicated to applied problems in the financial and energy sectors that have been formulated and solved in a stochastic optimization framework. The invited authors represent a group of scientists and practitioners, who cooperated in recent years to facilitate the growing penetration of stochastic programming techniques in real-world applications, inducing a significant advance over a large spectrum of complex decision problems.

After the recent widespread liberalization of the energy sector in Europe and the unprecedented growth of energy prices in international commodity markets, we have witnessed a significant convergence of strategic decision problems in the energy and financial sectors. This has often resulted in common open issues and has induced a remarkable effort by the industrial and scientific communities to facilitate the adoption of advanced analytical and decision tools. The main concerns of the financial community over the last decade have suddenly penetrated the energy sector inducing a remarkable scientific and practical effort to address previously unforeseeable management problems. This proposal aims to include in a unified framework for the first time an extensive set of contributions related to real-world applied problems in finance and energy, leading to a common methodological approach and in many cases having similar underlying economic and financial implications.

During the spring and the summer of 2007 the School of Stochastic Programming held in Bergamo (www.unibg.it/sps2007), and the eleventh symposium on Stochastic Programming in Vienna (http: //www.univie.ac.at/spxi), offered two venues for the presentation of the chapters included in the volume. After the two events, during the fall of 2007, all the invited contributors enthusiastically accepted the invitation to present their original work in the projected volume, from which this proposal was developed.

The volume is structured in three parts, devoted to contributions related to financial applications - Part I, with 7 chapters; energy applications - Part II, with 8 chapters; and to specific theoretical and computational issues - Part III, with 6 chapters -- recently developed in the scientific community and explicitly related to the applied problems presented.

This book provides a guide to businesses on how to use analytics to help drive from ideas to execution. Analytics used in this way provides "full lifecycle support" for business and helps during all stages of management decision-making and execution. The framework presented in the book enables the effective interplay of business, analytics, and information technology (business intelligence) both to leverage analytics for competitive advantage and to embed the use of business analytics into the business culture. It lays out an approach for analytics, describes the processes used, and provides guidance on how to scale analytics and how to develop analytics teams. It provides tools to improve analytics in a broad range of business situations, regardless of the level of maturity and the degree of executive sponsorship provided. As a guide for practitioners and managers, the book will benefit people who work in analytics teams, the managers and leaders who manage, use and sponsor analytics, and those who work with and support business analytics teams.

This monograph addresses several critical problems to the operations of shipping lines and ports, and provides algorithms and mathematical models for use by shipping lines and port authorities for decision support. One of these problems is the repositioning of container ships in a liner shipping network in order to adjust the network to seasonal shifts in demand or changes in the world economy. We provide the first problem description and mathematical model of repositioning and define the liner shipping fleet repositioning problem (LSFRP). The LSFRP is characterized by chains of interacting activities with a multi-commodity flow over paths defined by the activities chosen. We first model the problem without cargo flows with a variety of well-known optimization techniques, as well as using a novel method called linear temporal optimization planning that combines linear programming with partial-order planning in a branch-and-bound framework. We then model the LSFRP with cargo flows, using several different mathematical models as well as two heuristic approaches. We evaluate our techniques on a real-world dataset that includes a scenario from our industrial collaborator. We show that our approaches scale to the size of problems faced by industry, and are also able to improve the profit on the reference scenario by over US$14 million.

Over the years I have worked with or consulted for many managers throughout the world at all levels of industry and government. I have seen who succeeded, achieved goals, and made progress, and who failed or crashed. I have studied their methods of operation and their decision-making approach, as well as the range of people involved in the decision-making. I similarly personally managed large industrial and service organizations and their operations, and found that to succeed and have a content team of collaborators, decision-making had to be joint and delegated to the lowest competent and informed level. Using this approach not only improved the performance of the organization or firm, but also resulted in a more content, professional, cooperative, happy, and competent workforce. In general, people like to assume responsibility, particularly of functions with which they are intimately familiar. They enjoy the role of de- sion-maker and the use of their knowledge and experience in guiding their and related work. Delegation of decision-making not only infuses pride and conte- ment but also assures more informed, timely, and effective implementation of de- sions. It also adds to worker training and education as workers inquire, develop information and use of their own experience in improving their decision-making. Worker pride and feeling of control and involvement lead to contentment and s- isfaction which, in return, pays dividends in worker productivity, morale, retention, and resulting low turnover.

This new Handbook addresses the state of the art in the application of operations research models to problems in preventing terrorist attacks, planning and preparing for emergencies, and responding to and recovering from disasters. The purpose of the book is to enlighten policy makers and decision makers about the power of operations research to help organizations plan for and respond to terrorist attacks, natural disasters, and public health emergencies, while at the same time providing researchers with one single source of up-to-date research and applications. The Handbook consists of nine separate chapters: Using Operations Research Methods for Homeland Security Problems Operations Research and Homeland Security: Overview and Case Study of Pandemic Influenza Deployed Security Games for Patrol Planning Interdiction Models and Applications Time Discrepant Shipments in Manifest Data Achieving Realistic Levels of Defensive Hedging Mitigating the Risk of an Anthrax Attack with Medical Countermeasures Service Networks for Public Health Preparedness and Large-scale Disaster Relief Efforts Disaster Response Planning in the Private Sector

Facility location theory develops the idea of locating one or more facilities by optimizing suitable criteria such as minimizing transportation cost, or capturing the largest market share. The contributions in this book focus an approach to facility location theory through game theoretical tools highlighting situations where a location decision is faced by several decision makers and leading to a game theoretical framework in non-cooperative and cooperative methods. Models and methods regarding the facility location via game theory are explored and applications are illustrated through economics, engineering, and physics. Mathematicians, engineers, economists and computer scientists working in theory, applications and computational aspects of facility location problems using game theory will find this book useful.

This is the first book in the field that uses the power of the basic models and principles to provide students and managers with an "intuitive understanding" of operations management. The book touches on nine fundamental models and principles, and outlines the key insights behind each one. Some of the very biggest names in the Management Science field have developed and carefully written these chapters on the field 's basic models.

The editors and authors dedicate this book to Bernhard Korte on the occasion of his seventieth birthday. We, the editors, are happy about the overwhelming feedback to our initiative to honor him with this book and with a workshop in Bonn on November 3-7,2008.Althoughthiswouldbeareasontolookback,wewouldratherliketolook forward and see what are the interesting research directions today. This book is written by leading experts in combinatorial optimization. All - pers were carefully reviewed, and eventually twenty-three of the invited papers were accepted for this book. The breadth of topics is typical for the eld: combinatorial optimization builds bridges between areas like combinatorics and graph theory, submodular functions and matroids, network ows and connectivity, approximation algorithms and mat- matical programming, computational geometry and polyhedral combinatorics. All these topics are related, and they are all addressed in this book. Combi- torial optimization is also known for its numerous applications. To limit the scope, however, this book is not primarily about applications, although some are mentioned at various places. Most papers in this volume are surveys that provide an excellent overview of an activeresearcharea,butthisbookalsocontainsmanynewresults.Highlightingmany of the currently most interesting research directions in combinatorial optimization, we hope that this book constitutes a good basis for future research in these areas.

Energy is one of the worlds most challenging problems, and power systems are an important aspect of energy related issues. This handbook contains state-of-the-art contributions on power systems modeling and optimization. The book is separated into two volumes with six sections, which cover the most important areas of energy systems. The first volume covers the topics operations planning and expansion planning while the second volume focuses on transmission and distribution modeling, forecasting in energy, energy auctions and markets, as well as risk management. The contributions are authored by recognized specialists in their fields and consist in either state-of-the-art reviews or examinations of state-of-the-art developments. The articles are not purely theoretical, but instead also discuss specific applications in power systems.

The book offers a comprehensive survey of intuitionistic fuzzy logics. By reporting on both the author's research and others' findings, it provides readers with a complete overview of the field and highlights key issues and open problems, thus suggesting new research directions. Starting with an introduction to the basic elements of intuitionistic fuzzy propositional calculus, it then provides a guide to the use of intuitionistic fuzzy operators and quantifiers, and lastly presents state-of-the-art applications of intuitionistic fuzzy sets. The book is a valuable reference resource for graduate students and researchers alike.

This new edition focuses on three crucial areas of retail supply chain management: (1) empirical studies of retail supply chain practices, (2) assortment and inventory planning and (3) integrating price optimization into retail supply chain decisions. The book has been fully updated, expanding on the distinguishing features of the original, while offering three new chapters on recent topics which reflect areas of great interest and relevance to the academic and professional communities alike - inventory management in the presence of data inaccuracies, retail workforce management, and fast fashion retail strategies. The innovations, lessons for practice, and new technological solutions for managing retail supply chains are important not just in retailing, but offer crucial insights and strategies for the ultimate effective management of supply chains in other industries as well. The retail industry has emerged as a fascinating choice for researchers in the field of supply chain management. It presents a vast array of stimulating challenges that have long provided the context of much of the research in the area of operations research and inventory management. However, in recent years, advances in computing capabilities and information technologies, hyper-competition in the retail industry, emergence of multiple retail formats and distribution channels, an ever increasing trend towards a globally dispersed retail network, and a better understanding of the importance of collaboration in the extended supply chain have led to a surge in academic research on topics in retail supply chain management. Many supply chain innovations (e.g., vendor managed inventory) were first conceived and successfully validated in this industry, and have since been adopted in others. Conversely, many retailers have been quick to adopt cutting edge practices that first originated in other industries. Retail Supply Chain Management: Quantitative Models and Empirical Studies, 2nd Ed. is an attempt to summarize the state of the art in this research, as well as offer a perspective on what new applications may lie ahead.

1. 1 Motivation and Scope of Research Container terminals in seaports constitute interfaces between sea and land tra- port of goods in global transport chains. These logistics facilities face an increasing demandof service capacity, as is re ected by a tremendousgrowthin the worldwide container transshipments per year. For example, the top 20 terminals in the world showed an average relative increase of 14% with respect to the number of handled container units from 2006 to 2007, see Port of Hamburg Marketing (2008). In spite of this development, competition is high among container terminals within the same region. A terminal's customers, rst and foremost the vessel op- ators, expect a high level of service quality where reliability is one of the most importantdimensions, seeWiegmansetal. (2001). Regardingtheserviceofavessel, reliability means to realize all transshipment operations within its projected service time interval. The reliability of terminal operations impacts the reliability of v- sels in meeting their liner schedules. According to Notteboom (2006) unexpected waiting times of vessels before berthing and unexpected low transshipment prod- tivity at terminals are responsible for about 86% of liner schedule disturbances, see Fig. 1. 1. Currently, many terminal operators counteract this situation by extending their transshipment capacities. They build new terminals or enlarge existing ter- nals and purchase new or upgrade existing equipment. Ilmer (2005) provides an overview of current projects for building terminal capacity in northern Europe.

This book deals with transportation processes denoted as the Real-time Distribution of Perishable Goods (RDOPG). The book presents three contributions that are made to the field of transportation. First, a model considering the minimization of customer inconvenience is formulated. Second, a pro-active real-time control approach is proposed. Stochastic knowledge is generated from past request information by a new forecasting approach and is used in the pro-active approach to guide vehicles to request-likely areas before real requests arrive there. Various computational results are presented to show that in many cases the pro-active approach is able to achieve significantly improved results. Moreover, a measure for determining the structural quality of request data sets is also proposed. The third contribution of this book is a method that is presented for considering driver inconvenience aspects which arise from vehicle en-route diversion activities. Specifically, this method makes it possible to restrict the number of performed vehicle en-route diversion activities.

This book offers readers essential orientation on cybersecurity safeguards, and first and foremost helps them find the right balance between financial expenditures and risk mitigation. This is achieved by pursuing a multi-disciplinary approach that combines well-founded methods from economics and the computer sciences. Established decision making techniques are embedded into a walk-through for the complete lifecycle of cybersecurity investments. Insights into the economic aspect of the costs and benefits of cybersecurity are supplemented by established and innovative economic indicators. Readers will find practical tools and techniques to support reasonable decision making in cybersecurity investments. Further, they will be equipped to encourage a common understanding using economic aspects, and to provide cost transparency for the senior management.