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Article
Publication date: 6 May 2020

Fu-Chiang Yang

The purpose of this study is to address three managerial issues in a retail network under a centralised regime, including resource allocation, expansion and downsizing. In…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to address three managerial issues in a retail network under a centralised regime, including resource allocation, expansion and downsizing. In particular, this study investigates how to optimise resource allocation across retailers and how to decide the optimal size of a retail network for an empirical case, where 27 retailers belong to an automobile parts supplier in Taiwan.

Design/methodology/approach

The centralised data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach is used to optimise resource allocation among retailers and to seek the possibility of either an expansion and/or downsizing for a retail network.

Findings

The case company knows the best way to (re)allocate its available resources and (re)arrange the outcome goals for its own retailers. The 27 retailers are assigned specific targets for input and output adjustments to become Pareto or technically efficient units. Besides, an experiment is designed to measure how changing the number of retailers affects the group efficiency of the retail network. To keep the current aggregated output level of the retail network, the centralised supplier needs at least 24 retailers. However, the retail network with 37 retailers can achieve maximal group efficiency.

Originality/value

Centralised resource allocation is an inherent feature of most supplier-retailer relationships, where the supplier is usually a central planner with the power to allocate available resources among its own retailers. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to assess retail performance under a centralised regime.

Details

International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, vol. 48 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-0552

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 1 December 2022

Chaehwan Lim, Gyuseung Kim and Hun-Koo Ha

Since airlines that employ their resources effectively will achieve operating profitability, air route resource allocation is significant for airlines. This study aims to…

Abstract

Purpose

Since airlines that employ their resources effectively will achieve operating profitability, air route resource allocation is significant for airlines. This study aims to investigate an appropriate model to reallocate resources into each air route of an airline company.

Design/methodology/approach

This study proposes a network centralized data envelopment analysis (DEA) models with slack-based measure (SBM). The proposed model not only takes into account the two interconnected stages but also considers the nonradial approach with transfer-in and transfer-out slacks for resource reallocating. Furthermore, the authors modify the objective function to an input-oriented function with SBM, and divide the model into passenger and freight parts, which makes the model more realistic for the characteristic of air routes.

Findings

The empirical analysis using an airline company's internal data provides airline operators with information on how they increase or decrease input resources, which can serve as a practical guideline of resource reallocation. Specifically, the results indicate that the airline company should increase their input resources into long-haul air routes such as KOR-OCN while decreasing their input resources into short-haul air routes such as Korean-Oceania (KOR-OCN), Korean-Chinese (KOR-CHN), Korean-Southeast Asian (KOR-SEA), Korean-Japanese (KOR-JPN).

Originality/value

Although some papers evaluate air route efficiencies based on the DEA approach, a few existing papers have addressed resource allocation for air routes. This paper is the first to study the resource reallocation for air routes based on the DEA approach, contributing to the literature in expanding the scope of research on resource reallocation.

Details

Journal of International Logistics and Trade, vol. 20 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1738-2122

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 April 2020

Parisa Kamyab, Mohammad Reza Mozaffari, Javad Gerami and Peter F. Wankei

It is always of great importance for managers in organizations to evaluate their staff members and create incentive systems, using instruments such as Data Envelopment Analysis…

Abstract

Purpose

It is always of great importance for managers in organizations to evaluate their staff members and create incentive systems, using instruments such as Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and DEA-R (DEA models based on ratio analysis). The purpose of this paper is to propose a two-stage network incentives system for commercial banks.

Design/methodology/approach

Centralized Resource Allocation (CRA) models make it possible to project all decision-making units (DMUs) onto the efficient frontier by solving a single linear programming model. In this paper, we use our proposed DEA-R-based CRA models to evaluate commercial banks in a two-stage case when the only ratios available are the assets-to-costs and income-to-assets vectors.

Findings

Thirteen commercial banks modeled as two-stage networks were evaluated by the models proposed in two different cases of ratio data. Results suggest that the proposed methodology yields more accurate efficiency scores, thus allowing better discrimination among DMUs. Furthermore, evaluating the DMUs when they are structured as two-stage (or even three-stage) networks makes it possible to examine the incentives system in more detail. Therefore, the use of incentive systems by managers would allow a better focus on the priority activities of commercial banks and a faster movement toward the frontier of best practices.

Originality/value

The super-efficiency scores of a number of commercial banks are evaluated based on the CRA model, as a cornerstone criterion for the two-stage evaluation in DEA-R, thus allowing the rank of each commercial bank in terms of the incentives system rather on the performance of the productive process.

Details

International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, vol. 70 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1741-0401

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 6 September 2021

Carsten Lund Pedersen and Torben Juul Andersen

This study of a market-leader in a turbulent hostile telecommunications market uncovers how the competitive context influences strategy-making and cultivates central control that…

Abstract

This study of a market-leader in a turbulent hostile telecommunications market uncovers how the competitive context influences strategy-making and cultivates central control that opposes autonomous initiatives. It shows how a highly competitive industry context reduces organizational slack that inhibits autonomy and drives central actions. Strategic initiatives primarily arise as deliberate actions induced by top management. This creates an information gap between ongoing experiences gained by employees operating in the periphery of the organization and the perceptions of decision-makers at the corporate center. In this organizational setting, the authors observe maverick behavior among entrepreneurial individuals that deliberately circumvent the formal rules to turn autonomous initiatives into viable strategic ventures in the best interest of the firm. Where conventional views presume that power delegation and organizational slack are necessary for autonomous strategic initiatives to emerge, the authors find that central control can provoke autonomous rule-breaking maverick behavior among resource-deprived entrepreneurial individuals inside the organization.

Details

Strategic Responses for a Sustainable Future: New Research in International Management
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80071-929-3

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 June 2019

Seyed Hadi Mousavi-Nasab, Jalal Safari and Ashkan Hafezalkotob

Resource allocation has always been a critical problem with significant economic relevance. Many industries allocate the resources based on classical methods such as overall…

Abstract

Purpose

Resource allocation has always been a critical problem with significant economic relevance. Many industries allocate the resources based on classical methods such as overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) and data envelopment analysis (DEA). The lack of OEE factors’ weight, how it is defined, analyzed, interpreted and compared in OEE and selection of unrealistic weights, self-appraisal and disability of complete ranking in DEA are challenges that are possible to occur. These defects may result in unfair allocation of the resources. This study aims to overcome the mentioned weaknesses.

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper, an approach using a set of various DEA models and Nash bargaining solution (NBS) is designed to solve the resource allocation problem based on OEE, among a set of comparable and uniform DMUs (decision-making units) in a fair way.

Findings

The results show that a unique Pareto optimal allocation solution is obtained by the proposed DEA–NBS model among the DMUs. This allocation is more acceptable for players, because the allocation results are commonly determined by all DMUs rather than a specific one. Furthermore, the rankings achieved by the utilized methods and TOPSIS (technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution) are compared by Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient to validate the resource allocation plan. The findings indicate that the DEA–NBS method has the best correlation with the TOPSIS approach.

Originality/value

To the best of authors’ knowledge, no research has considered the use of DEA and NBS with OEE.

Details

Kybernetes, vol. 49 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 May 2022

Mansour Abedian, Atefeh Amindoust, Reza Maddahi and Javid Jouzdani

This paper aims to propose an integrated centralized data envelopment analysis (CDEA)-balanced scorecard (BSC) model to provide a selective approach to determine the most…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to propose an integrated centralized data envelopment analysis (CDEA)-balanced scorecard (BSC) model to provide a selective approach to determine the most efficient indicators for evaluating the four perspectives of the BSC.

Design/methodology/approach

An integer linear programming model based on the efficiency concept of the CDEA method is presented to select the best indicators for evaluating four perspectives of the BSC. The basis for selecting indicators in this method is to maximize the overall performance of each BSC perspective. The modeling is performed on a real case. The considered model is solved using a general algebraic modeling system software for the data set of the real case.

Findings

A real-world case is solved using the proposed method. The integration of the CDEA and the BSC seems to be advantageous because it sheds more light on the complexity and tradeoffs inherent in actual performance measurement. It is important to note that there cannot be a unique and universal model of performance measurement applicable in every situation, in every organization and at any time.

Research limitations/implications

The data set of a single organization in the manufacturing industry is used to show the performance of the proposed mathematical model; therefore, generalization of the results should be done cautiously. This framework is based on the Iranian community and experts’ viewpoints; therefore, different results may be obtained if it is applied elsewhere, and the importance of perspectives and their indicators might show different results in other populations and other countries. In addition, because the data is collected in a specific period of time, the results cannot be extended to other periods of time.

Originality/value

The main contribution of this paper lies in the adaption of a new integrated CDEA-BSC model to performance measurement in the industrial sector that technology improves the ultimate results of performance measurement and provides wider opportunities for decision-makers. This paper aids managers and decision-makers to control the efficient indicators in perspectives.

Details

Journal of Modelling in Management, vol. 18 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-5664

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 1 August 2016

Wenqi Jiang

Different from manufacturing resources allocation problems, the prices and amounts of limited public service resources could not be changed with the consumers’ requirements and…

1587

Abstract

Purpose

Different from manufacturing resources allocation problems, the prices and amounts of limited public service resources could not be changed with the consumers’ requirements and social fairness is the most important objective for improving allocation efficiency. To measure social fairness reasonably, the purpose of this paper is fourfold: first, divide social fairness into longitudinal comparative fairness and crosswise comparative fairness, therefore providing their calculation formula and describing the comprehensive fair degree by using the interval numbers. Second, the comparison regulations of interval numbers are given and the corresponding features are also described. Third, an extension of VIKOR method is put forward for evaluating social fairness of different allocation alternatives with interval numbers. Finally, a numerical example illustrates the proposed method and clarifies the main results developed in the paper.

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper, the author depicts the social fair degree as an interval number, and thus proposes the comparison method between any two interval numbers. Based on the basis procedure of the VIKOR method, the paper proposes an extension of the fuzzy VIKOR method with the interval numbers to rank and select the compromise allocation alternatives. Finally, a numerical example illustrates the practicability of the proposed method.

Findings

The comparison of interval numbers is very important when the author evaluates the decision alternatives. Through analyzing the present comparison methods, the paper proposes the simple method of comparing the interval numbers, which can obtain the same results with the above two methods. The fuzzy VIKOR method, a popular multi-criteria decision-making method, focusses on ranking and selecting from a set of alternatives in a fuzzy environment. For the fuzzy value, the paper also proposes the extension of the VIKOR method to perform an evaluation and get the compromise alternatives.

Originality/value

According to the huge customers’ requirement, how to improve their social fair degree has become the focus in public service resources allocation, where the social fair degree may be a comprehensive concept which includes the fair degree compared with all the other allocation alternatives and the fair degree compared with the other small group under the same allocation alternative. In the paper, the author defines the above two types of fair degree and then depicts the comprehensive fair degree as their integration, which will be interval numbers.

Details

Kybernetes, vol. 45 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 May 1989

Colin Hales

Over the past thirty years or so, a body, albeit a somewhat disarticulated body, of evidence on the work of managers has accumulated. The field of study which has given rise to…

Abstract

Over the past thirty years or so, a body, albeit a somewhat disarticulated body, of evidence on the work of managers has accumulated. The field of study which has given rise to this evidence is, from time to time, subject to ‘internal’ criticisms by some of its own practitioners (Luthans and Davis 1980, Marples 1967, Mintzberg 1973, Stewart 1983) whose main contention, predictably, is that the studies do not, methodologically or analytically, always live up to their self‐imposed project. The studies in short are upbraided for what they have imperfectly done. In an earlier paper (Hales 1986) I sought to extend and add to these criticisms of studies of managers' work. I argued that the studies fail to distinguish, within the vague term ‘managerial work’, between: first, ‘management’ as a process and ‘managers’ as a particular category of agents; second, managerial work as a totality and managerial jobs as clusters of that (and other) work; third, what managers are required to do (role definition) and what they actually do (role performance) and fourth, the outputs and purpose of managerial work (managerial tasks and responsibilities) versus the inputs and practice of managerial work (managers' behaviour and activities). These ambiguities are, I suggested, symptomatic of a rather narrow empiricist approach and failure adequately to theorise the ‘management’ which managers are, apparently, doing. In this way, I wanted to arrive at, rather than merely assert, the proposition that the activities of managers cannot be adequately understood without setting them, empirically and theoretically, in a wider context.

Details

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol. 9 no. 5/6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-333X

Article
Publication date: 13 March 2017

Lei Xue, Changyin Sun and Fang Yu

The paper aims to build the connections between game theory and the resource allocation problem with general uncertainty. It proposes modeling the distributed resource allocation

Abstract

Purpose

The paper aims to build the connections between game theory and the resource allocation problem with general uncertainty. It proposes modeling the distributed resource allocation problem by Bayesian game. During this paper, three basic kinds of uncertainties are discussed. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to build the connections between game theory and the resource allocation problem with general uncertainty.

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper, the Bayesian game is proposed for modeling the resource allocation problem with uncertainty. The basic game theoretical model contains three parts: agents, utility function, and decision-making process. Therefore, the probabilistic weighted Shapley value (WSV) is applied to design the utility function of the agents. For achieving the Bayesian Nash equilibrium point, the rational learning method is introduced for optimizing the decision-making process of the agents.

Findings

The paper provides empirical insights about how the game theoretical model deals with the resource allocation problem uncertainty. A probabilistic WSV function was proposed to design the utility function of agents. Moreover, the rational learning was used to optimize the decision-making process of agents for achieving Bayesian Nash equilibrium point. By comparing with the models with full information, the simulation results illustrated the effectiveness of the Bayesian game theoretical methods for the resource allocation problem under uncertainty.

Originality/value

This paper designs a Bayesian theoretical model for the resource allocation problem under uncertainty. The relationships between the Bayesian game and the resource allocation problem are discussed.

Details

International Journal of Intelligent Computing and Cybernetics, vol. 10 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1756-378X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 August 2018

Mojtaba Ghiyasi

The purpose of this paper is to propose two performance-based capital budgeting (PBCB) approaches. The proposed approaches aim to assign limited capital within different firms…

1175

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to propose two performance-based capital budgeting (PBCB) approaches. The proposed approaches aim to assign limited capital within different firms based on their performance. These approaches have been applied to capital budgeting process of the technical and vocational training schools of Semnan Province, Iran for the fiscal year 2014–2016. Although the current capital of each decision-making unit (DMU) is secured in the first approach, the second approach provides possibility of sharing the capital between DMUs.

Design/methodology/approach

Data envelopment analysis which is a broadly used mathematical programming technique for assessing performance of DMUs is utilized for the first phase of both approaches. The proposed models are based on linear programming. Different scenarios are presented and their pros and cons for the capital budgeting process are discussed.

Findings

The proposed approaches are applied to capital budgeting process for a fiscal year of technical and vocational training schools of Semnan Province, Iran. The budget allocation of the previous year has been found to be non-optimal in terms of budget consuming. This emphasizes reconsideration of budget allotment within schools. The results show a high potential for producing more outputs. The second approach that provides the possibility of sharing and realloting of budget between schools based on their performance may be crucial for those schools that are not performing efficiently because there is possibility of losing budget in each given year in contrast with the previous years.

Originality/value

This paper proposes two linear programming-based approaches for the PBCB. The author not only deals with static framework but also proposes dynamic structured models. Using performance-based budgeting in organizations has been emphasized by authorities in Iran for many years. Using the proposed approaches, different suggestion and policy recommendation for decision makers in process of capital budgeting process within period of study are provided for technical and vocational training schools of Semnan Province, Iran.

Details

Benchmarking: An International Journal, vol. 25 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-5771

Keywords

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