Using enterprise systems to achieve firm growth

Purpose This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies. Design/methodology/approach This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings Firms can achieve business objectives through the utilization of outsourced enterprise systems software. Engaging in the process of resource co-specialization with exchange partners offers mutual benefits to both system vendor and client organization and enhance both performance and growth as a result. Originality/value The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

Lessons Learned: A Primo Usability Study

<p>The University of Houston Libraries implemented Primo as the primary search option on the library website in May 2014. In May 2015, the Libraries released a redesigned interface to improve user experience with the tool. The Libraries took a user-centered approach to redesigning the Primo interface by conducting a "think-aloud" usability test in order to gather user feedback and identify needed improvements. This article describes the methodology and findings from the usability study, the changes that were made to the Primo interface as a result, and implications for discovery system vendor relations and library instruction.</p>

THE INTEGRATED DETERMINISTIC MODEL FOR A VENDOR MANAGED INVENTORY IN A TWO-STAGE SUPPLY CHAIN

In a two-stage supply chain system, vendor managed inventory (VMI) policies is an integrating decisions between a supplier and his retailers. The supplier assumes the responsibility of maintaining inventory at its retailers and ensuring that they will not run out of stock at any moment. This paper discusses an optimization approach, considering the model of static demand on the inbound as well as the outbound inventory for a two-stage supply chain implementing VMI. In the proposed solutions for coordinating the single-warehouse multiple-retailers (SWMR) system, retailers are first clustered to minimize the within-cluster travel costs and distances and are then replenished using an optimal direct shipping strategy satisfying some additional restrictions.

DDG51 Class Land Based Engineering Site (LBES): The Vision and the Value

The Arleigh Burke guided missile destroyer program (DDG 51) represents the largest ship class in the US Navy. The DDG 51 Land Based Engineering Site (LBES) is a test complex that was built to provide & demonstrate a stable level of operational effectiveness and suitability for mobility and support systems during ship construction and fleet introduction of the class. Integrated systems testing on the LBES proved to be paramount in the success of the overall shipbuilding program as technical risks discovered in Philadelphia were able to be solved with a mix of hardware and computer program changes prior to shipbuilder trials or sailaway. This success in risk/cost avoidance also led to program office investment in LBES upgrades such as Flight IIA DDGs, multi-year option class changes, and DDG midlife/modernization changes that are still proving to carry very high cost avoidance and return on investment. LBES has also afforded several indirect benefits such as navy crew training, the genesis of DDG 51 class distant support, and equipment or system vendor ECP testing. Most recently LBES has been used for the navy’s Great Green Fleet R&D proof of concept testing (e.g. biofuel in 2010 and hybrid electric drive in 2011–12). This article will describe the DDG 51 LBES contribution to one of the most successful ship acquisition programs in U.S. naval history.