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 examines recent developments in Operations Management, and focuses on four major application areas: dynamic pricing, assortment optimization, supply chain and inventory management, and healthcare operations. Data-driven optimization in which real-time input of data is being used to simultaneously learn the (true) underlying model of a system and optimize its performance, is becoming increasingly important in the last few years, especially with the rise of Big Data.

Over the past decade organizations have faced relentless customer demand for better value at less cost, individual customization, greater choice, faster delivery, higher quality, exceptional service, and more recently - increased environmental and social consciousness. The organization's "weapon of choice" to address this increasing demand has been the supply chain. However, as the supply chain footprint changed (e.g. outsourcing, off-shoring and customer/vendor empowerment) so did the organization's exposure to uncertainty. Organizations were taken by surprise since this exposure was unanticipated, complex and beyond their ability to manage. As customers become more demanding and change occurs at an even greater pace, supply chain risk continues to propagate like a parasite. Organizations and societies are at much greater risk of systemic failure because of the massive interdependency throughout global supply chains. The priority now is two-fold; play catch-up and address these massive gaps while deploying more intelligent and integrated strategies (i.e. social aware, instinctive, dynamic and predictive) for dealing with continuous change.

"Single Point of Failure: The 10 Essential Laws of Supply Chain Risk Management" uses analogies and dozens of case histories to describe the "risk parasite" that infects all supply chains while revealing methods to neutralize that parasite. The book addresses the questions: What are the "single points of failure"? How exposed are customers, investors, other stakeholders and ultimately the organization? What is the measurable impact (i.e. brand, financial, strategic, and non-compliance)? Who establishes the "risk paradigm"? How does the organization efficiently and effectively allocate precious resources - time, people, management attention, and capital? How is success measured? This book is both technically powerful and effectively realistic, based on today's complex global economy.

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.

..". a well structured and documented book that certainly reflects the new era of logistics." Journal of the Operational Research Society (of a previous edition)

Expanded edition includes new research results and numerous modifications to enhance comprehensiveness and clarity.

Two new sections, a new appendix, and more than half a dozen new figures.

Provides new concept for an integrated examination of logistics systems

Features "reasonable" solutions requiring as little information as possible

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

THE PRACTICAL, EASY INTRODUCTION TO MODERN SUPPLY CHAIN/LOGISTICS MANAGEMENT FOR EVERY PROFESSIONAL AND STUDENT! COVERS CORE CONCEPTS, PLANNING, OPERATIONS, INTEGRATION, COLLABORATION, NETWORK DESIGN, AND MORE SHOWS HOW TO MEASURE, CONTROL, AND IMPROVE ANY SUPPLY CHAIN INCLUDES PRACTICAL ADVICE FOR JUMPSTARTING YOUR OWN SUPPLY CHAIN CAREER This easy guide introduces the modern field of supply chain and logistics management, explains why it is central to business success, shows how its pieces fit together, and presents best practices you can use wherever you work. Myerson explains key concepts, tools, and applications in clear, simple language, with intuitive examples that make sense to any student or professional. He covers the entire field: from planning through operations, integration and collaboration through measurement, control, and improvement. You'll find practical insights on hot-button issues ranging from sustainability to the lean-agile supply chain. Myerson concludes by helping you anticipate key emerging trends-so you can advance more quickly in your own career. Trillions of dollars are spent every year on supply chains and logistics. Supply chain management is one of the fastest growing areas of business, and salaries are rising alongside demand. Now, there's an easy, practical introduction to the entire field: a source of reliable knowledge and best practices for students and professionals alike. Paul A. Myerson teaches you all you'll need to start or move forward in your own supply chain career. Writing in plain English, he covers all the planning and management tasks needed to transform resources into finished products and services, and deliver them efficiently to customers. Using practical examples, Myerson reviews the integration, collaboration, and technology issues that are essential to success in today's complex supply chains. You'll learn how to measure your supply chain's performance, make it more agile and sustainable, and focus it on what matters most: adding customer value. MASTER NUTS-AND-BOLTS OPERATIONAL BEST PRACTICES Improve procurement, transportation, warehousing, ordering, reverse logistics, and more BUILD A BETTER GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN Manage new risks as you improve sustainability STRENGTHEN KEY LINKAGES WITH YOUR PARTNERS AND CUSTOMERS Get supply chains right by getting collaboration right PREVIEW THE FUTURE OF SUPPLY CHAINS-AND YOUR SUPPLY CHAIN CAREER Discover "where the puck is headed"-so you can get there first

This open access book examines the increase in outsourcing, contracting and subcontracting as ways of organising work. It explores the impact of these employment arrangements on public safety, particularly when they are linked to complex supply networks in a range of engineering industries including oil and gas, nuclear power and aviation. The brief provides practical recommendations on how best to manage arrangements that target short-term profitability and also maintain excellence in long-term safety outcomes. The brief is a source of advice for organisations on how to maximise the benefits and minimise long-term system reliability issues that can be introduced by contracting and outsourcing, rather than assuming it to be a wholly negative or positive practice. Contracting and Safety comprises qualitative, empirical studies focusing on high-reliability organisation. As such, this brief provides a rich picture of the experience of working in complex supply chains. It will be of interest to researchers in industrial safety, as well as safety professionals and project managers within engineering industries.

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.

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.

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.

Agribusiness offers a unique introduction to the business of agriculture: what agribusiness is, why it matters, what the role of technology is, how trade fits into the picture, what its key risks are, who is lending and investing and why, and what returns they are getting. It is both practical in orientation - focusing on the role of managers in the industry as well as that of lenders and investors - and international in scope - drawing on case studies and interviews with key figures all over the world. The text ranges across various agricultural commodities to stress that there is no 'one size fits all' solution and successful management, lending or investment in agribusiness requires understanding specifics. Readers are introduced to the economics of the supply and demand of food, the role of agricultural trade, agricultural marketing and farm management along with key business aspects including: Main drivers of agribusiness value; Principal risks of agribusinesses; Agribusiness as an investment class; and Agribusiness lending: why, who and how. This engaging textbook offers a complete guide to the international business of agriculture which is ideal for all students, scholars and practitioners. A selection of eResources is also available to supplement this text, and instructors will find PowerPoint slides, discussion questions, case studies and further teaching materials available to them.

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 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.

The need to contain costs across the business is as strong as ever and the search for cost reduction opportunities is intensifying. There still remains one last major opportunity to take out costs - through the supply chain. Ultimately all costs will make their way to the final marketplace to be reflected in the price paid by the end user. Smart companies instead seek to make the supply chain more competitive through the value it creates and the costs it reduces overall. They have realized that the real competition is not company against company but rather supply chain against supply chain. Supply Chain Management Accounting looks at how the evolution of supply chains has been dramatic over the last few years, with more and more companies moving to sourcing overseas, distributing finished goods to overseas markets, and increasing their international operations. The seeking of low-cost country sourcing, optimizing manufacturing, and exporting products and services has created new challenges to demand forecasting and supply chain planning. Supply Chain Management Accounting presents a wide range of approaches and ground-breaking research findings. The book covers profitability, liquidity and asset utilization, product costing, activity-based costing, investment appraisal, customer profitability analysis, budgeting and sales and operations planning. Online supporting resources include invaluable study questions and worked solutions to reinforce the learning as well as multiple-choice questions with solutions and PowerPoint activities.

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.

This book consolidates the current state of knowledge on implementing cooperating robot-based systems to increase the flexibility of manufacturing systems. It is based on the concrete experiences of experts, practitioners, and engineers in implementing cooperating robot systems for more flexible manufacturing systems. Thanks to the great variety of manufacturing systems that we had the opportunity to study, a remarkable collection of methods and tools has emerged. The aim of the book is to share this experience with academia and industry practitioners seeking to improve manufacturing practice. While there are various books on teaching principles for robotics, this book offers a unique opportunity to dive into the practical aspects of implementing complex real-world robotic applications. As it is used in this book, the term "cooperating robots" refers to robots that either cooperate with one another or with people. The book investigates various aspects of cooperation in the context of implementing flexible manufacturing systems. Accordingly, manufacturing systems are the main focus in the discussion on implementing such robotic systems. The book begins with a brief introduction to the concept of manufacturing systems, followed by a discussion of flexibility. Aspects of designing such systems, e.g. material flow, logistics, processing times, shop floor footprint, and design of flexible handling systems, are subsequently covered. In closing, the book addresses key issues in operating such systems, which concern e.g. decision-making, autonomy, cooperation, communication, task scheduling, motion generation, and distribution of control between different devices. Reviewing the state of the art and presenting the latest innovations, the book offers a valuable asset for a broad readership.

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.

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.

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.