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This paper deals with a particular type of leasing contracts according to which an equipment is leased for free with the condition for the lessee to purchase a predetermined minimum quantity of consumables during each leasing period. Maintenance actions are performed by the lessor and borne by him. Imperfect preventive maintenance is carried out every t time units throughout the leasing period. Minimal repairs are performed following equipment failures. At the end of the leasing period, an overhaul which restores the equipment to “as good as new” state is performed. The equipment is leased many times during its life cycle. The purpose of this paper is to determine the values of the decision variables for the lessor, which are the preventive maintenance (PM) period and the minimum quantity of consumables to be sold to ensure profit.

A mathematical model is developed to express the expected maintenance cost per time unit incurred by the lessor as well as his expected profit over the equipment life cycle. The optimal PM period minimizing the maintenance cost is determined first. Then, given the corresponding minimum maintenance cost, the minimum quantity of consumables (the lessor's break-even point) to be purchased by the lessee is computed. A numerical example and a sensitivity study are presented, and the obtained results are discussed.

The outcome of this work is supposed to help the lessors determining two key values to be included in each leasing contract, namely: (1) the periodicity according to which they will commit to perform preventive maintenance actions such that their average total cost of maintenance is minimized, (2) the minimum quantity of consumables that the lessee must commit to purchasing during the leasing period. This quantity must be between the break-even point and the maximum quantity associated with the capacity of the equipment.

Practically, the objective of this work is first to determine the optimal strategy to be adopted by the lessor in terms of effort relating to PM and second to determine the minimum quantity of consumables that the lessee must purchase during the leasing period such as profit is insured for the lessor.

This type of leasing (for free) has not been addressed in the literature particularly when considering maintenance strategies.

The purpose of this paper is threefold: to validate the consumer ethnocentrism tendencies (CET) scale in Mozambique and to describe the profile of CET in that country; to describe the effects of consumer ethnocentrism through the moderator of product type; and to discuss implications of Mozambican consumer ethnocentrism and its effects and make recommendations for practitioners.

A questionnaire‐based survey was carried out to collect data from 448 consumers in Southern Mozambique. The data were analyzed by using exploratory factor analyses, confirmatory factor analyses and structural equation modelling.

The CET scale has satisfactory psychometric qualities and can be used as a two‐dimensional construct in Mozambique. Mozambican consumers were found to be moderately ethnocentric. Their ethnocentric tendencies underpinned negative attitudes toward South African consumables. The study demonstrates the moderating role of product type and concludes that importers of South African agricultural consumables into Mozambique are more susceptible to the effects of consumer ethnocentrism than are importers of processed goods.

The results cannot be generalized to countries and products which were not included into this study. The conclusions about the CET effects are valid only for the southern part of the country where the survey took place.

The authors suggest that South African marketing managers should pay closer attention to the competitiveness of agricultural consumables in Mozambique. By contrast, processed consumables from South Africa represent a lower risk. As the employment issue plays a central role in Mozambican consumer ethnocentric tendencies, the national policy makers might incorporate it into the messages of buy‐local campaigns. In addition, the buy local campaigns should position growing national industry as a future large employer in the country. The national suppliers of agricultural consumables are at less risk. On the contrary, national producers of processed consumables are at a disadvantage because ethnocentricity does not result in strong support of these products. Advertising messages with patriotic appeals may be ineffective. Thus, instead of country of origin, other extrinsic cues (e.g. brand, package and price) may be used to enhance competitiveness on the national market.

Mozambican consumers are moderately ethnocentric. Consumer ethnocentricity and its effects in Mozambique are shaped by pragmatic motives originating from socio‐economic pressures such as the under‐development of the national production sector and high unemployment in the country.

The paper will be of interest to practitioners, e.g. foreign companies, exporters and Mozambican policy makers and producers. The findings suggest that foreign companies should not be overly cautious about selling their products in Mozambique because, being moderately ethnocentric, Mozambican consumers are open to purchasing foreign imports where there is good reason, for example, when locally made products are unavailable.

The purpose of this paper is to present a procedure to implement time-driven activity-based costing (TDABC) using Maynard Operation Sequence Technique (MOST). In this paper three research questions are addressed: How can MOST be used to frame time equations? How can MOST be used for the improvement of productivity? How can TDABC cost information be used?

Case study research was performed at a manufacturing industry. Data have been collected for overhead distribution. The overhead cost was distributed on activity. Time equations are framed using MOST. Cost of activity is assigned to the product using time equations.

The proposed system simplifies the process of implementation of TDABC using MOST. This system not only determines the cost but also identifies the area where cost is consumed. It also identifies opportunity for productivity improvement.

The case study was conducted in a manufacturing industry. The proposed methodology is suitable for manufacturing industry where standard work procedure is adapted.

The study explains the implementation of TDABC using MOST using a case study and results are meticulously discussed from a management point of view for appropriate decision making.

Besides the articles published so far dealing with the implementation of TDABC, no research was found on the implementation of TDABC using MOST.

This paper proposes an integrated approach that seeks to jointly optimize project scheduling and material lot sizing decisions for time-constrained project scheduling problems.

A mixed integer linear programming model is devised, which utilizes the splitting of noncritical activities as a mean toward leveling the renewable resources. The developed model minimizes renewable resources leveling costs along with consumable resources related costs, and it is solved using IBM ILOG CPLEX optimization package. A hybrid metaheuristic procedure is also proposed to efficiently solve the model for larger projects with complex networks structure.

The results confirmed the significance of the integrated approach as both the project schedule and the material ordering policy turned out to be different once compared to the sequential approach under same parameter settings. Furthermore, the integrated approach resulted in substantial total costs reduction for low values of the acquiring and releasing costs of the renewable resources. Computational experiments conducted over 240 test instances of various sizes, and complexities illustrate the efficiency of the proposed metaheuristic approach as it yields solutions that are on average 1.14% away from the optimal ones.

This work highlights the necessity of having project managers address project scheduling and materials lot sizing decisions concurrently, rather than sequentially, to better level resources and minimize materials related costs. Significant cost savings were generated through the developed model despite the use of a small-scale example which illustrates the great potential that the integrated approach has in real life projects. For real life projects with complex network topology, practitioners are advised to make use of the developed metaheuristic procedure due to its superior time efficiency as compared to exact solution methods.

The sequential approach, wherein a project schedule is established first followed by allocating the needed resources, is proven to yield a nonoptimized project schedule and materials ordering policy, leading to an increase in the project's total cost. The integrated approach proposed hereafter optimizes both decisions at once ensuring the timely completion of the project at the least possible cost. The proposed metaheuristic approach provides a viable alternative to exact solution methods especially for larger projects.

There is usually a considerable shortage of resources and a lack of accurate data about the demand amount in a post-disaster situation. This paper aims to model the distribution and redistribution of relief items. When the new data on demand and resources become available the redistribution of previously delivered items may be necessary due to severe shortages in some locations and surplus inventory in other areas.

The presented model includes a vehicle routing problem in the first period and some network flow structures for succeeding periods of each run. Thereby, it can produce itineraries and loading plans for each vehicle in all periods when it is run in a rolling horizon manner. The fairness in distribution is sought by minimizing the maximum shortage of commodities among the affected areas while considering operational costs. Besides, equity of welfare in different periods is taken into account.

The proposed model is evaluated by a realistic case study. The results show that redistribution and multi-period planning can improve efficiency and fairness in supply after the occurrence of a disaster.

This paper proposes an operational model for distribution and redistribution of relief items considering the differences of items characteristics. The model integrates two well-known structures, vehicle routing problem with pickup and delivery and network flow problem to take their advantages. To get more practical results, the model relaxes some simplifying assumptions commonly used in disaster relief studies. Furthermore, the model is used in a realistic case study.

Duplex stainless steels have become important competitors to austenitic stainless steels in many applications and a great deal of attention has focused on the welding aspects. The introduction of modern grades with improved properties and a competitive price level have increased their use in the offshore, petrochemical and shipbuilding industries, for example. In particular the newer grades, with their higher nitrogen content and improved weldability, have moved duplex stainless steels from a position as “interesting” materials to one of “useful in practice”. However, duplex stainless steels differ from austenitic grades in some respects, and know‐how combined with the use of appropriate welding procedures and consumables is therefore the key to successful welding.

Describes the materials and methods used in the building of two multipurpose icebreaker vessels by a Finnish shipyard. Details the different welding processes used for each vessel and the welding consumables chosen for each of the vessels' hulls.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a smart spare parts inventory management system for a semiconductor manufacturing company.

With the development of the Internet of Things and big data analytics, more information can be obtained and shared between fabs and suppliers.

On the basis of the characteristics of spare parts, the authors classify the spare parts into two types, the consumable and contingent parts, and manage them through a cyber-physical inventory management system.

In this new business model, the real time information from machines, shop floors, spare parts database and suppliers are used to make better decisions and establish transparency and flexibility between fabs and suppliers.

strategic alliances/collaborative strategies;

defending against global competitors;

related diversification;

entrepreneurship-organizational life cycle; and

evaluating strategies for firm growth.

MBA/PGP level programmes in management and/or entrepreneurship.

Aztec Fluids & Machinery, set up just over four years ago in the city of Ahmedabad in Gujarat, India, caters to the printer hardware, spares and consumables needs of the digital ink jet printing market. The company has identified vendors principally from the UK and China for its printers and consumable sourcing and presently markets these using a hybrid channel structure of direct selling and through 12 distributors in ten cities of India. A recent development of note is the successful transformation of a flexible roll printer into a flat-bed type one by the co-founder. The experiment assumes significance since the cost of a conventional flat-bed screen printer is almost five times that of the improvised printer. The huge, fragmented, price-sensitive, yet quality-conscious market in India offers immense potential for this innovation. At the same time, Aztec's recent interactions with a couple of its UK-based vendors present other alternatives for growth.

To explore organizational life cycle: the introduction and early growth phases.

To understand alliance dynamics for early-stage entrepreneurs –rationale, management and the manifestation of trust between different types of partners: suppliers and customers.

To understand how small firms prepare for and evaluate the challenges of growth.

Teaching note.