This open access book provides a clear holistic conceptual framework of CISS-F (competitiveness, inclusiveness, sustainability, scalability and access to finance) to analyse the efficiency of value chains of high value agricultural commodities in India. It is based on the understanding that agriculture is an integrated system that connects farming with logistics, processing and marketing. Farmer's welfare being central to any agricultural policy makes it very pertinent to study how a value chain works and can be strengthened further to realize this policy goal. This book adds value to the existing research by studying the value chains end-to-end across a wide spectrum of agricultural commodities with the holistic lens of CISS-F. It is not enough that a value chain is competitive but not inclusive or it is competitive and inclusive but not sustainable. The issue of scalability is very critical to achieve macro gains in terms of greater farmer outreach and sectoral growth. The research undertaken here brings out some very useful insights for policymaking in terms of what needs to be done better to steer the agricultural value chains towards being more competitive, inclusive, sustainable and scalable. The value chain specific research findings help draw very nuanced policy recommendations as well as present a big picture of the future direction of policy making in agriculture.

Blockchain is a transformative driver for change in all industries. Learn from the latest research and case studies how this technology can and will be used to revolutionize supply chain management. Blockchain and the Supply Chain provides a complete overview of blockchain and the key benefits of integrating this technology into the supply chain. This textbook explains how track and trace can be improved, transaction efficiency increased, visibility enhanced, and more through blockchain. With extensive case studies, learning is underpinned by practical insights as well as cutting-edge research. Clear and accessible information is provided to students on how blockchain will affect supply chain processes, metrics and performance and how to capitalize on the potential of this technology. The fully revised new edition includes the latest information on Enterprise Blockchain, Ethereum and Hyperledger. Focus is also placed on the application of Cloud, Internet of Things (IoT), Machine learning (ML) and other technologies that support supply chains and their integration with blockchain. This textbook highlights how to use blockchain as an enabler and key driver for solutions in the end-to-end supply chain. Online resources include lecture slides and example assignments and quizzes.

'Supply Chain 4.0' has introduced automation into logistics and supply chain processes, exploiting predictive analytics to better match supply with demand, optimizing operations and using the latest technologies for the last mile delivery such as drones and autonomous robots. Supply Chain 4.0 presents new methods, techniques, and information systems that support the coordination and optimization of logistics processes, reduction of operational costs as well as the emergence of entirely new services and business processes.

This edited collection includes contributions from leading international researchers from academia and industry. It considers the latest technologies and operational research methods available to support smart, integrated, and sustainable logistics practices focusing on automation, big data, Internet of Things, and decision support systems for transportation and logistics. It also highlights market requirements and includes case studies of cutting-edge applications from innovators in the logistics industry.

Today, one of the top priorities of an organization's modern corporate strategy is to portray itself as socially responsible and environmentally sustainable. As a focal point of sustainability initiatives, green supply chain management has emerged as a key strategy that can provide competitive advantages with significant parallel gains for company profitability. In designing a green supply chain, the intent is the adoption of comprehensive and cross-business sustainability principles, from the product conception stage to the end-of-life stage. In this context, green initiatives relate to tangible and intangible corporate benefits. Sustainability reports from numerous companies reveal that greening their supply chains has helped reduce operating cost, thus boosting effectiveness and efficiency while increasing sustainability of the business. Green Supply Chain Management provides a strategic overview of sustainable supply chain management, shedding light on the theoretical background and key principles of the topic. Specifically, this book covers various thematic areas including benefits and impact of green supply chain management; enablers and barriers on supply chain operations; inbound and outbound logistics considerations; and production, packaging and reverse logistics under the notion of "greening". The ultimate aim of this textbook is to highlight the challenges in the implementation of green supply chain management in modern companies and to provide a roadmap for decision-making in real-life cases. Combining chapter summaries and discussion questions, this book provides an accessible and student-friendly introduction to green supply change management and will be of great interest to students, scholars and practitioners in the fields of sustainable business and supply chain management.

The ability to build and also maintain a world class logistics and distribution network is an essential ingredient in the success of the world's leading businesses, but keeping pace with changes in your sector and in others is hard to do. With the Gower Handbook of Supply Chain Management you will need to look no further. Written by a team of leading consultants with contributions from leading academic experts, this book will help you to keep pace with the latest global developments in supply chain management and logistics, and plan for the future. This book has over thirty chapters with detailed accounts of key topics and the latest developments, from e-collaboration and CRM integration, to reverse logistics and strategic sourcing, and includes case studies from Asia, Europe and North America. It looks at all aspects of operational excellence in logistics and supply chain management. The Gower Handbook of Supply Chain Management will help managers to benchmark their operations against the best-of-breed supply chains across the world. It provides a unique single source of expert opinion and experience.

Table of Contents

Contents: Foreword, Gregory Owens; Introduction and frameworks, John L. Gattorna. Supply Chains in the Context of Customers and Strategy: The challenging new operating environment and size of the prize, John L. Gattorna; Formulating a supply chain vision, John L. Gattorna and Ming Tang; Developing an aligned supply chain operating strategy, Ming Tang and John L. Gattorna; Operating strategy: configuring segmented supply chains, Geoffrey Thomas and Ming Tang; Customer relationship management capabilities in a supply chain context, Stephen F. Dull, David N. Morris, Timothy Stephens and Mark T. Wolfe; The impact of pricing on supply chains, Greg Cudahy; Trading terms and customer account profitability, Cameron H. Hall; Contents. Operational Excellence: Supply chain network optimization modeling, Stephen N. Wagner, Jamie M. Bolton and Linda Nuthall; Supply chain diagnostics, Douglas W. Allvine and Trevor Gore; Manufacturing strategy for supply chains, Mark Reynolds; Six Sigma - improving the quality of business, Richard D. Schleusener and Andrew J. Berger; Distribution operations - design for excellence, David R. Olson; Integrated transportation management, Brooks A. Bentz; Forecasting and demand planning, Scott F. Githens; Inventory management, Geremy J. Heath and Alister Danks; Service parts management, Olaf Schatteman and Jonathan Wright; Supply chain financial performance measurement, David Walters; Supply chain performance measures and systems, Linda Nuthall; Reverse logistics, Olaf Schatteman. Supply Chain Integration and Collaboration: Creating agile supply chains, Martin Christopher; Supply chain structures to deliver value, Michael G. Mikurak and Jonathan D. Whitaker; Supply chain planning, Dennis Theis, Craig Millis, David Kennedy and Mark Pearson; Strategic sourcing and procurement, Jeffrey S. Russell and Neeraj Thukral; Securing immediate benefits from e-sourcing, Brett Campbell and Anthony Du Preez; Industry-level collaboration through ECR, Garry O'Sull

The book takes the inventory control perspective to tackle empty container repositioning logistics problems in regional transportation systems by explicitly considering the features such as demand imbalance over space, dynamic operations over time, uncertainty in demand and transport, and container leasing phenomenon. The book has the following unique features. First, it provides a discussion of broad empty equipment logistics including empty freight vehicle redistribution, empty passenger vehicle redistribution, empty bike repositioning, empty container chassis repositioning, and empty container repositioning (ECR) problems. The similarity and unique characteristics of ECR compared to other empty equipment repositioning problems are explained. Second, we adopt the stochastic dynamic programming approach to tackle the ECR problems, which offers an algorithmic strategy to characterize the optimal policy and captures the sequential decision-making phenomenon in anticipation of uncertainties over time and space. Third, we are able to establish closed-form solutions and structural properties of the optimal ECR policies in relatively simple transportation systems. Such properties can then be utilized to construct threshold-type ECR policies for more complicated transportation systems. In fact, the threshold-type ECR policies resemble the well-known (s, S) and (s, Q) policies in inventory control theory. These policies have the advantages of being decentralized, easy to understand, easy to operate, quick response to random events, and minimal on-line computation and communication. Fourth, several sophisticated optimization techniques such as approximate dynamic programming, simulation-based meta-heuristics, stochastic approximation, perturbation analysis, and ordinal optimization methods are introduced to solve the complex stochastic optimization problems. The book will be of interest to researchers and professionals in logistics, transport, supply chain, and operations research.

Supply chains, including logistics, are the functional elements of an organisation's operations. To formulate a strategy for this operation to work seamlessly the organisation needs to align these operations with the corporate and business strategy. Strategic Supply Chain Management provides a discussion on effective supply chain strategic leadership for managerial teams who have previously been operating on a tactical or operational level, as well as students who need to learn about applying the theories of strategic supply chain management in practice. Strategic Supply Chain Management introduces concepts and tools which will enable successful buyer-supplier relationships and effective organizational leadership and talent management. Samir Dani provides a concise but important outlook on the connection between business strategy and supply chain strategy. The book delves into topical issues of risk, resilience, and sustainability and how these influence both business and supply chain strategy. The book also considers strategies for procurement, buyer supplier relationships, and sales & operations planning. An important aspect of this book is to consider the leadership and talent aspects of the humans in the supply chain and how this influences strategy and creates competitive advantage.

This book shows how blockchain technology can transform the Internet, connecting global businesses in disruptive ways. It offers a comprehensive and multi-faceted examination of the potential of distributed ledger technology (DLT) from a new perspective: as an enabler of the Internet of Value (IoV). The authors discuss applications of blockchain technology to the financial services domain, e.g. in real estate, insurance and the emerging Decentralised Finance (DeFi) movement. They also cover applications to the media and e-commerce domains. DLT's impacts on the circular economy, marketplace, Internet of Things (IoT) and oracle business models are also investigated. In closing, the book provides outlooks on the evolution of DLT, as well as the systemic governance and privacy risks of the IoV. The book is intended for a broad readership, including students, researchers and industry practitioners.

This book aims to provide academic and industrial applications advancing the critical role of circular economy principles in the sustainability of various resources. The latest research and practice in resource sustainability are shared, discussed, and promoted. The core competency of this book revolves around providing recent advances in sustainable consumption and production implementations, developed tools for environmental and sustainability assessment, technological advancements in resource and waste management/treatment, and advances in waste reduction, reuse, recycling, and recovery. Resources are defined broadly to include (1) physical resources: metals, non-metallic minerals, energy, and water (2) biological resources: food, forestry, land, ecological systems, etc., and (3) "misplaced" resources: air emissions, water pollutants, and solid waste. Finally, legislation, and policy implications and recommendations for resources sustainability are concluded.

This book examines the challenges and opportunities arising from an assortment of technologies as they relate to Operations Management and Finance. The book contains primers on operations, finance, and their interface. After that, each section contains chapters in the categories of theory, applications, case studies, and teaching resources. These technologies and business models include Big Data and Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Blockchain, IoT, 3D printing, sharing platforms, crowdfunding, and crowdsourcing. The balance between theory, applications, and teaching materials make this book an interesting read for academics and practitioners in operations and finance who are curious about the role of new technologies. The book is an attractive choice for PhD-level courses and for self-study.

From data collection to evaluation and visualization of prediction results, this book provides a comprehensive overview of the process of predicting demand for retailers. Each step is illustrated with the relevant code and implementation details to demystify how historical data can be leveraged to predict future demand. The tools and methods presented can be applied to most retail settings, both online and brick-and-mortar, such as fashion, electronics, groceries, and furniture. This book is intended to help students in business analytics and data scientists better master how to leverage data for predicting demand in retail applications. It can also be used as a guide for supply chain practitioners who are interested in predicting demand. It enables readers to understand how to leverage data to predict future demand, how to clean and pre-process the data to make it suitable for predictive analytics, what the common caveats are in terms of implementation and how to assess prediction accuracy.

In der IT-Welt, unter den "Techies" und Ingenieuren, geniessen die Kolumnen des IBM-Vordenkers Gunter Dueck einen fast legendaren Ruf. Leidenschaftlich subjektiv wird jeweils Aktuelles und besonders Zukunftiges aufs Korn genommen und scharf-humorig auf den Punkt gebracht. Der vorliegende Band vereint 42 assoziative Feuerwerke des Kultautors und bietet ein kunterbuntes Potpourri: Artgerechte Haltung von Menschen unter besonderer Berucksichtigung von "Techies," Unfreiheit der Forschung, Plattwurmer und Mensch, Softwarepatente, Aufrufe an Manager, endlich die Versuche einzustellen, Naturgesetze zu umgehen. Gegen zwanghafte Evaluation, kindhafte Begeisterung uber viel zu Neues, gegen jahrlich wechselnde Managementfehler und Beraterhypes ("Triebrichtungen") usw. usw.

Dueck: "Ich muss und will Ihnen nicht immer aus der Seele sprechen aber was spricht gegen einen gelegentlichen Neuronensturm?""

How can organizations ensure that they can get best value for money in their procurement decisions? How can they stimulate innovations from their dedicated suppliers? With contributions from leading academics and professionals, this 2006 handbook offers expert guidance on the fundamental aspects of successful procurement design and management in firms, public administrations, and international institutions. The issues addressed include the management of dynamic procurement; the handling of procurement risk; the architecture of purchasing systems; the structure of incentives in procurement contracts; methods to increase suppliers' participation in procurement contests and e-procurement platforms; how to minimize the risk of collusion and of corruption; pricing and reputation mechanisms in e-procurement platforms; and how procurement can enhance innovation. Inspired by frontier research, it provides practical recommendations to managers, engineers and lawyers engaged in private and public procurement design.

Industry 4.0 refers to fourth generation of industrial activity characterized by smart systems and internet-based solutions. This book describes the fourth revolution based on instrumented, interconnected and intelligent assets. The different book chapters provide a perspective on technologies and methodologies developed and deployed leading to this concept. With an aim to increase performance, productivity and flexibility, major application area of maintenance through smart system has been discussed in detail. Applicability of 4.0 in transportation, energy and infrastructure is explored, with effects on technology, organisation and operations from a systems perspective.

This book presents recent advances in the theory and application of the Best-Worst Method (BWM). It includes selected papers from the Second International Workshop on Best-Worst Method (BWM2021), held in Delft, The Netherlands from 10-11 June, 2021, and provides valuable insights on why and how to use BWM in a diverse range of applications including health, energy, supply chain management, and engineering. The book highlights the use of BWM in different settings including single decision-making vs group decision-making, and complete information vs incomplete and uncertain situations. The papers gathered here will benefit academics and practitioners who are involved in multi-criteria decision-making and decision analysis.

In recent years, digital business models have frequently been the subject of academic and practical discourse. The increasing interconnectivity across the entire supply chain, which is subsumed under the term Industry 4.0, can unlock even farther-reaching potentials for digital business models, affecting entire supply chains and ecosystems. This book examines the specific challenges and obstacles that supply chain and ecosystem management poses with regard to the development of digital business models. The top-quality contributions gathered here focus on the successful implementation of Industry 4.0 in digital business models for industrial organizations in a European context, making the book a valuable asset for researchers and practitioners alike.

This book intersects the distributed ledger technology (DLT) community with the international security community. Given the increasing application of blockchain technology in the fields of business and international development, there is a growing body of study on other use cases. For instance, can blockchain have a significant role in preserving and improving international security? This book explores this question in the context of preventing the proliferation of some of the most dangerous materials in the world-items that if not secured can lend to the development of weapons of mass destruction. It considers how blockchain can increase efficiencies in the global trade of nuclear and chemical materials and technology, thereby increasing assurances related to compliance with international nonproliferation and disarmament treaties.

This book highlights the applications of blockchain technologies to foster sustainable development in different fields. The concept of Sustainability has grown widespread in today's context and there are many requirements to achieve Sustainability in any industrial sector including mapping, tracing the supply chain to ensure sustainable supply chain management. Reliable and transparent, efficient data is one of the key requirements for Sustainability in today's advanced industrial context. Achievement of Sustainability objectives in this advanced era demands various technological advancements such as Blockchain technologies. The core competencies of blockchain technology namely transparency, data auditability, privacy, value transfer, and process efficiency and automation are very much essential for achieving the multifold objectives under sustainability.

Selecting the right aircraft for an airline operation is a vastly complex process, involving a multitude of skills and considerable knowledge of the business. Buying the Big Jets has been published since 2001 to provide expert guidance to all those involved in aircraft selection strategies. This third edition brings the picture fully up to date, representing the latest developments in aircraft products and best practice in airline fleet planning techniques. It features a new section that addresses the passenger experience and, for the first time, includes regional jet manufacturers who are now extending their product families into the 100-plus seating category. Overall, the third edition looks at a broader selection of analytical approaches than previously and considers how fleet planning for cost-leader airlines differs from that of network carriers. Buying the Big Jets is an industry-specific example of strategic planning and is therefore a vital text for students engaged in graduate or post-graduate studies either in aeronautics or business administration. The book is essential reading for airline planners with fleet planning responsibility, consultancy groups, analysts studying aircraft performance and economics, airline operational personnel, students of air transport, leasing companies, aircraft value appraisers, and all who manage commercial aircraft acquisition programmes and provide strategic advice to decision-makers. It is also a valuable tool for the banking community where insights into aircraft acquisition decisions are vital.

This book is a collection of best selected research papers from the "Digital Technologies in Logistics and Infrastructure" conference (ICDT-2021). The topics of the presented papers are related to various aspects, problems, and solutions in maritime, transport, warehouse logistics, digital transformation, and information technologies in logistics, as well as digital transformation of infrastructure industries from theoretical and practical points of view. The authors of the conference are representatives of major companies, researchers, and scientists from Russia, Hungary, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Thailand, the Netherlands, and Finland. The conference proceedings are of interest to researchers and practitioners in the field of logistics and infrastructure in various sectors of digitalization.

This book discusses supply chain management, focusing on developments within modelling the dynamic behaviour of the supply chain. Aimed at postgraduate students, researchers and practitioners, this book provides an in-depth knowledge of the dynamics of supply chains. Business trends such as the globalisation process and the increase of competition across many industrial sectors have forced companies to concentrate on their core competences and to outsource those activities in which they do not excel. As a consequence, companies no longer produce and distribute their goods in isolation, but being part of a supply chain or supply network, i.e. a set of interrelated companies who ultimately deliver the goods and services to the final customer. Despite the prevalence of supply chains as the primary form of production and distribution, their performance can be seriously hampered by the complex dynamics resulting from the collaboration and coordination (or lack thereof) among their members. This book provides the reader with modelling tools to understand, analyse and improve the dynamic behaviour of supply chains. It assembles seminal works on supply chain models and recent developments on the topic in order to provide a comprehensive, unified vision of the field for researchers and practitioners who wish to grasp the challenges of supply chain management. Aside presenting the main elements, equations and performance indicators governing the dynamics of a supply chain, and the book addresses issues such as the effect of timely and accurately sharing the information across members, the influence of restrictions on the productive capacities of their members, or the impact of the variability of the lead times, among others. Furthermore, more complex supply chain structures such as non-serial supply networks or closed-loop supply chains are modelled and discussed. Relevant managerial insights regarding the causes of supply chain underperformance, as well as avenues to improve their efficiency can be extracted from the resulting models.

This book uses numerous examples to describe the current opportunities and risks of air freight against the backdrop of stagnating transport volumes since the financial crisis in 2008. It shows what impact these developments have had on those involved, in particular shippers, airlines, airports and freight forwarders. The application-oriented presentation also provides an insight into the design of complex supply chains and the areas of tension in which the players in air freight operate.

This book summarizes the effect of COVID-19 on the global supply chain. Eminent researchers, practitioners, and professors discuss the challenges faced by supply chain providers and supply chain strategies related to various global, retail, fast moving consumer goods, humanitarian, pharmaceutical, and agricultural supply chains. This book also suggests the resilient approach adopted by supply chain organizations for quick recovery and re-establishing their networks. This book helps the readers explore the pandemic's impact on the supply chain and rebuilding the same using suitable approaches.

This book focuses on three essential elements of agricultural supply chains: Planting and Growing, Processing and Selling, and Government Interventions. For decades, most agricultural economists applied macro-economic theory in decisions pertaining to the optimization of food production and distribution. However, few researchers used micro-economic theory to examine how individual farmers respond to market information, incentive pricing mechanisms and different market structures in the trade of agricultural goods. Examining challenges in agricultural supply chain operations through the lens of micro-economic theory is imperative because it can enable policymakers and social enterprises to develop and design market information provision policy, incentive contracts and market structures for improving farmer and consumer welfare. In each chapter, contributing authors motivate their research questions by providing the context and articulating the importance of their questions. They present their analysis to examine the respective research questions and explain their results. At the end of each chapter, they provide a short list of future research questions.