The effect of supply chain responsiveness on customer development

PurposeThe study examines how supply chain responsiveness (logistics process responsiveness, operations systems responsiveness and supplier network responsiveness) impacts the ability of firms to attract, satisfy and retain customers.Design/methodology/approachUsing a quantitative approach, a total of 250 questionnaires were distributed to firms in the Kumasi metropolis in the Ashanti Region of Ghana, with 100 useable responses retrieved. The effect of supply chain responsiveness on customer development was analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling.FindingsThe findings showed that operations systems responsiveness and supplier network responsiveness drive the logistics systems responsiveness of firms as hypothesized. It was also revealed that operations systems responsiveness and logistics process responsiveness enhanced customer development, but supplier network responsiveness did not. Logistics process responsiveness additionally partially mediated the effect of operations systems responsiveness on customer development.Originality/valueTo the best of the researchers' knowledge, no previous studies have empirically examined interrelationships between the dimensions of supply chain responsiveness. Additionally, no previous study has examined the effect of supply chain responsiveness on customer development.

The Auto-Diagnosis of Granulation of Information Retrieval on the Web

In this paper, a postulation on the relationship between the memory structure of the brain’s neural network and the representation of information granules in the semantic web is presented. In order to show this connection, abstract operations of inducing information granules are proposed to be used for the proposed logical operations systems, hereinafter referred to as: analysis, reduction, deduction and synthesis. Firstly, the searched information is compared with the information represented by the thesaurus, which is equivalent to the auto-diagnosis of this system. Secondly, triangular norm systems (information perception systems) are built for fuzzy or vague information. These are fuzzy sets. The introduced logical operations and their logical values, denoted as problematic, hypothetical, validity and decidability, are interpreted in these fuzzy sets. In this way, the granularity of the information retrieval on the Web is determined according to the type of reasoning.

Customer-driven Operations of the Alumni Association Office in a University

This study measured the customer-driven operations systems of the alumni association office in a university through a customer satisfaction survey and narratives of satisfaction and dissatisfaction. This descriptive study was conducted in the alumni association office of a university covering 2016, 2017 and 2018 secondary data. The secondary data from 600 respondents (200 respondents per year) includes quantitative data and narratives from the comments section of the survey instrument. Statistical treatment includes weighted mean and frequencies. In 2016, the customers perceived the operations as very good. The respondents rated the cleanliness and orderliness of the office as excellent. The rest of the indicators were rated very good. The waiting and processing time for the release of the ID was rated the lowest among ten indicators.It was noted by the researchers that the respondents viewed the association as excellent in 2017 and 2018. In 2017, four indicators were rated as excellent: cleanliness and orderliness of the office, attitude of the office staff, quality of alumni ID released to graduates, and comfort & personalized service in the office. Moreover, the indicator with the lowest mean was the appearance and content of the association’s Facebook Page ®.In 2018, eight out of ten indicators were evaluated as excellent. The top three indicators were: attitude of the staff; cleanliness and orderliness of the office; and quality of alumni ID released to graduates. The indicator with the lowest mean was the waiting & processing time for the release of alumni ID. (Recommended citation: Amparado, M. A. P. & Hinoguin, J. F. Customer-driven Operations of the Alumni Association Office in a University. Cebu Journal of Business & Accountancy, 1(1), 4-20).

Determining impact level of low material supply into delivery times of web servers

Objective: To determine materials shortage to manufacture web servers, establishing impact level of low supply material into delivery time promised to customers. Methodology, data analyses showed: greatest shortage, suppliers they belong to, how many orders that fail delivery time to customer are due to lack of materials for its manufacture; also how long it takes for each material to arrive, material cost, server’s quantity impacted, profit impact of each server, old orders timing, reasons for each material missed. When analyzing by commercialized server type: customer delivery goals, materials required to manufacture; we found that most orders that do not accomplish delivery time to customers are affected by high value materials shortage; being solid-state drivers (SSD) the greatest shortage. From January 2016 to 2018, material shortage went from 1275 units per month to 2985. The main reason for current shortage is worldwide shortage, as well as disconnection between sales and operations systems. Contribution, communication between operations and sales system was automated; sales department has access to material availability to manufacture products offered to customer, enabling them to communicate accurate delivery times to customer, also to give alternative product to shorter delivery times in material required to manufacture products offered.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems and Multi-Organizational Enterprise (MOE) Strategy

This chapter critiques trends in enterprise resource planning (ERP) in respect to contemporary multi-organizational enterprise strategy in order to identify under-researched areas. It is based on the premise that multi-organization strategies and information systems span more than one legal company entity and are becoming increasingly important as digital Internet based systems become more prolific, and outsourcing and collaboration between companies becomes more widespread. This chapter presents a critique of literature covering theoretical, methodological and relational aspects of enterprise resource planning systems and multi-organizational enterprise strategy. The critique gives a unique perspective and highlights four major gaps in current research and points towards a trend which is referred to in this chapter as ‘enterprization.' This research could help organizations make more effective use of their information and operations systems strategies when used across more than one company. It should interest researchers, teachers, IS developers and managers.