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.

This book analyses and proposes solutions to one of the core challenges faced in the Maintenance, Repair and Operations (MRO) supply chains in the oil and gas industry, a field that is currently impacted by low oil prices, emerging technologies and a societal transition to cleaner energies. It describes the end-to-end nature of the oil and gas supply chain, and challenges paradigms and accepted ways of working within the industry - such as wastes driven by broken interfaces, naivete regarding supply chains, and the practice that considers re-organisation to be the answer to these challenges - and identifies opportunities to shift this paradigm towards reliability and value. Moreover, the book shares the authors' front-line experience and encourages readers to consider deploying the solutions presented in their own contexts. The insights from the book's 12 modules are based on personal experiences and are industry-generic, allowing them to be transferred to other MRO supply chains. Readers are encouraged to use this book as a reference for their own supply chain transformations. The book is primarily intended for practitioners, including chief operating officers, chief financial officers, chief supply chain officers, engineers and heads of procurement, purchasing, operations, and materials management.

Today's business environment is constantly evolving, filled with volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity and driven by digital transformation, globalization, and the need to creating value through innovation. These shifts demand that organizations view contracting through a different lens. Since it is impossible to predict every what-if scenario in a transactional contract, organizations in strategic and complex partnerships must shift to a mindset of shared goals and objectives built upon a strong foundation of transparency and trust, working together to mitigate risk much better than merely shifting risk to the weaker party. Contracting in the New Economy helps you to not only develop this mindset - but also offers the practical tools needed to embrace the social side of contracting, enabling your organization to harness the value creating potential of formal relational contracts. Briefly sharing the theoretical foundations that prove relational contracting works, it goes well beyond theory by providing powerful examples of relational contracting principles in practice. In addition, the authors provide a practical and proven approach for helping you to put relational contracting theory into practice for your own relationships. First by providing a framework for approaching any contracting situation and helping organizations finding the best contract model for each situation. And then by sharing five proven steps you can take to create an effective relational contract for you own strategic and complex business relationships. For anyone involved in developing contracts -lawyers, in-house counsels, contract managers, C-level managers, procurement officers, and so on - this book will empower you to create powerful cooperative alliances that will help you reach -and surpass - your business goals in today's dynamic new environment.

On the basis of a pan-European survey conducted among senior purchasing managers of 200 large-sized multinationals, Martin Lockstrom identifies internal key success factors of companies sourcing in low-cost countries.

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.

Practical guidance and a fresh approach for more accurate value-based pricing Pricing Done Right provides a cutting-edge framework for value-based pricing and clear guidance on ideation, implementation, and execution. More action plan than primer, this book introduces a holistic strategy for ensuring on-target pricing by shifting the conversation from 'What is value-based pricing?' to 'How can we ensure that our pricing reflects our goals?' You'll learn to identify the decisions that must be managed, how to manage them, and who should make them, as illustrated by real-world case studies. The key success factor is to build a pricing organization within your organization; this reveals the relationships between pricing decisions, how they affect each other, and what the ultimate effects might be. With this deep-level insight, you are better able to decide where your organization needs to go. Pricing needs to be done right, and pricing decisions have to be made but are you sure that you're leaving these decisions to the right people? Few managers are confident that their prices accurately reflect the cost and value of their product, and this uncertainty leaves money on the table. This book provides a practical template for better pricing strategies, methods, roles, and decisions, with a concrete roadmap through execution. * Identify the right questions for pricing analyses * Improve your pricing strategy and decision making process * Understand roles, accountability, and value-based pricing * Restructure perspectives to help pricing reflect your organization's goals The critical link between pricing and corporate strategy must be reflected in the decision making process. Pricing Done Right provides the blueprint for more accurate pricing, with expert guidance throughout the change process.

Most companies are continuously trying to reduce their supply-chain costs, time to market, and inventory. Optimizing Your Supply-Chain Performance: How to Assess and Improve Your Company's Strategy and Execution Capabilities presents the "how-to's" (and a few "how-NOT-to's"!) for conducting assessments of companies' supply chains as well as identifying areas for improvement. It covers techniques, tools, and methodologies for evaluating current working methods (current state) versus industry best practices and operational optimization. It identifies performance gaps and suggests planning and implementing improved ways of working (the future and ideal states). With a collection of approximately 40 case-in-point examples of supply-chain transformation across a wide array of industries including Fortune 1000 companies as well as foreign global leaders, this book provides a detailed guide for assessing and improving organizational strategy and execution-capabilities for: Inventory management Order fulfillment Sourcing and purchasing Manufacturing planning, scheduling, and execution Overall supply-chain effectiveness Business continuity planning Essentially, this book provides basic knowledge for assessing, improving, and optimizing the end-to-end supply chain, and the case-in-point examples assist in breaking down theories into simple, actionable improvement activities. The author stresses the importance of business continuity and provides grassroots approaches to identifying risks. Based on the author's vast experience out in the field, it gives professionals a new perspective and inspires them to seek world-class performance.

Global capitalism is a precarious system. Relying on the steady flow of goods across the world, trans-national companies such as Wal-Mart and Amazon depend on the work of millions in docks, warehouses and logistics centres to keep their goods moving. This is the global supply chain, and, if the chain is broken, capitalism grinds to a halt. This book looks at case studies across the world to uncover a network of resistance by these workers who, despite their importance, often face vast exploitation and economic violence. Experiencing first hand wildcat strikes, organised blockades and boycotts, the authors explore a diverse range of case studies, from South China dockworkers to the transformation of the port of Piraeus in Greece, and from the Southern California logistics sector, to dock and logistical workers in Chile and unions in Turkey.

Die IT-Branche hat sich uber die letzten Jahre hinweg wiederholt nach dem gleichen Muster entwickelt: Es gab eine neue Technologie - diese wurde akzeptiert oder verworfen - und anschlieend verschmolz ein Teil der neuen Methoden mit etablierten Technologien. Dabei sind auerst effektive Management-Technologien entstanden. Das Buch stellt diese Technologien praxisbezogen dar und beschreibt deren Zusammenwachsen zu einer effizienten Sammlung breit anwendbarer Management-Tools.

The management of logistics and supply chain operations is of vital importance in the defence sector. Defence Logistics looks at established theories and their practical utility, providing insights into current thinking for postgraduate and undergraduate students, lecturers, researchers, practitioners and professionals through real-life case studies. Defence Logistics focuses on key areas of logistics and supply chain management in context, such as sustainability, inventory management, resilience, procurement, information systems and crisis response. This comprehensive and up-to-the-minute collection includes contributions from international academics from a range of universities, academies and defence schools, along with practitioners who are currently working in the field of defence logistics.

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.

Around the world, virtually every company is engaged in some form of effort intended to improve the processing that takes place across an end-to-end supply chain system as they work towards moving their organizations to the next level of performance. Supply chain, particularly when enhanced with collaboration and Internet technology, is uniquely suited to helping an organization increase profits and decrease costs. A comprehensive guide to adding value to supply chain efforts, Using Models to Improve the Supply Chain demonstrates how leading firms have successfully integrated their supply chains and how they plan further progress through supply chain evolution.

Using both generic and specific models, the author carefully explains just what's required for each function of the supply chain and outlines what takes place form lower to higher levels of progress. He emphasizes establishing the pathway to success, then finding the correct models to guide the effort, and finally, implementing with the right combination of technology and collaboration, the elements that set one supply chain apart from another in the eyes of the customers and consumers. He explores the importance of business-to-business commerce or business-to-business-to-consumer commerce, enabled by cyber techniques as a central concept in any future business strategy.

Although some firms have come close, no firm has yet mastered all of the techniques and tool required to claim the dominant position. Selecting and applying the correct models can only enhance the odds of being the eventual ultimate leader in a particular industry. A practical guide for moving your supply chain effort forward, Using Models to Improve the Supply Chain provides the missing links needed to reach the necessary level of achievement.

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.

How to Conquer the Effective Frontier and Drive Improved Value in Global Operations Growth has slowed. Volatility has increased and the world is more global. Brands are defined by innovation and services. Supply chain excellence matters more than ever. It makes a difference in corporate performance. One cannot snap their fingers and deliver supply chain success. It happens over the course of many years. It is measured in inches not miles. In this book, the author evaluates the progress of over a hundred companies over the period of 2006-2013. Success drives value. The effective supply chain makes a difference in winning a war, saving a patient, and driving commerce; but it also makes a difference in a community having clean air, potable water, and a standard of living. Mistakes are hard to overcome. Supply Chain Metrics that Matter tells this story. The book links corporate financials to supply chain maturity. In the book, the author analyzes which metrics matter. The author Lora M. Cecere is a supply chain researcher as well as an authority in supply chain technology. She helps companies gain first mover advantage. In the book, Cecere provides concrete, actionable steps to align and balance the supply chain to drive value. The book explores the crossover between supply chain efficiency and financial growth with topics such as: * Outlining the metrics that matter, the metrics that don't * Progress in industry sub-segment in improving inventory, cash, productivity and margin * The management techniques that improve performance * Sharing insights on how metrics change as the supply chain matures * The roadmap to improve performance. Today, supply chains are global and dynamic. They are rapidly evolving. Companies that constantly seek out new solutions and opportunities for improvement drive differentiation. In a market where growth is stalled and many companies are stuck in driving supply chain performance, this book provides a clear, concise framework for a more modern, effective supply chain.

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 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.

For any business involved in today's supply chains, logistics services are critical. Companies have to decide whether to retain their own logistics operations or place their trust in third-party suppliers. This potential move away from the traditional approach of managing these processes internally can lead to improved service and reduced cost although this isn't always the case. The Logistics Outsourcing Handbook provides step by step guidance on the process of logistics outsourcing and explains how to apply this information for commercial success. Vital advice is given on benchmarking existing operations, how to shortlist companies, produce a request for a proposal, choose the optimum supplier and implement and manage the contract. The Logistics Outsourcing Handbook analyses outsourcing from both an industry wide perspective, while also drilling down into specific individual considerations. The book provides valuable guidance in terms of contractual relationships, cost models and the integration of information technology systems. By analysing current statistics and surveys, looking into factors behind why contracts are awarded and terminated important insights can be acquired. This book contains tools, models, online resources and case studies on the outsourced relationships of companies including Intel KFC and BA to further develop the reader's knowledge which makes this book an informative and essential resource.

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 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.

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.

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?""