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In the almost twenty years since Vasarhelyi and Halper (1991) reported on their pioneering implementation of what has come to be known as Continuous Auditing (CA), the concept has increasingly moved from theory into practice. A 2006 survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers shows that half of all responding firms use some sort of CA techniques, and the majority of the rest plan to do so in the near future. CA not only has an increasing impact on auditing practice, but is also one of the rare instances in which such a significant change was led by the researchers. In this paper we survey the state of CA after two decades of research into continuous auditing theory and practice, and draw out the lessons learned by us in recent pilot CA projects at two major firms, to examine where this unique partnership between academics and auditors will take CA in the future.

Although training is essential to continuous improvement, scant literature examines post-training facilitators for continuous improvement. The study aims to explore the relationship between training and continuous improvement, the mediating role of self-efficacy and the moderate role of training transfer climate.

This study utilizes the questionnaire survey of 455 Vietnamese employees to test the link between continuous improvement training and continuous improvement, the moderate role of the training transfer climate and the mediating role of self–efficacy.

Research results reveal that training positively influences continuous improvement. Furthermore, self-efficacy fully intervenes in the link between training and continuous improvement. Finally, the training transfer climate positively moderates this link.

Although the link between training and continuous improvement is suspicious, there is scant research on post-training facilitators of continuous improvement applications. To the best of the author's knowledge, this study is one of the first to explore the moderation role of transfer climate and the mediation role of self-efficacy in the relationship between training and continuous improvement.

The purpose of this paper is to review and analyze the perishable inventory models along various dimensions such as its evolution, scope, demand, shelf life, replenishment policy, modeling techniques and research gaps.

In total, 418 relevant and scholarly articles of various researchers and practitioners during 1990-2016 were reviewed. They were critically analyzed along author profile, nature of perishability, research contributions of different countries, publication along time, research methodologies adopted, etc. to draw fruitful conclusions. The future research for perishable inventory modeling was also discussed and suggested.

There are plethora of perishable inventory studies with divergent objectives and scope. Besides demand and perishable rate in perishable inventory models, other factors such as price discount, allow shortage or not, inflation, time value of money and so on were found to be combined to make it more realistic. The modeling of inventory systems with two or more perishable items is limited. The multi-echelon inventory with centralized decision and information sharing is acquiring lot of importance because of supply chain integration in the competitive market.

Only peer-reviewed journals and conference papers were analyzed, whereas the manuals, reports, white papers and blood-related articles were excluded. Clustering of literature revealed that future studies should focus on stochastic modeling.

Stress had been laid to identify future research gaps that will help in developing realistic models. The present work will form a guideline to choose the appropriate methodology(s) and mathematical technique(s) in different situations with perishable inventory.

The current review analyzed 419 research papers available in the literature on perishable inventory modeling to summarize its current status and identify its potential future directions. Also the future research gaps were uncovered. This systemic review is strongly felt to fill the gap in the perishable inventory literature and help in formulating effective strategies to design of an effective and efficient inventory management system for perishable items.

This study investigates the impacts of changing the length of review period on the performance of a periodic review system with lost sales under varying demand patterns by using simulation method.

The simulation model has been built using a spreadsheet program and depicts a special case of several retailers supplied by a central warehouse. Simulation scenarios are created based on two factors: length of the review period, and product type in terms of the average and standard deviation of the corresponding product's demand distribution.

Results obtained from the simulation model show that inventory performance is quite sensitive to the duration of review periods, and selecting the appropriate period length is largely dependent on the variability of demand. Specifically, relatively shorter review periods are required for products with high variable demand, while the inventory system can tolerate longer review periods if the product demand is less fluctuating.

The study provides some practical guidelines for the inventory managers regarding the selection of an appropriate length for a review period in a periodic review system with lost sales.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a simulation model to evaluate inventory and distribution decisions like lateral transshipments in a network with multiple products.

Data are collected from a company, and a discrete-event simulation in Python is developed to support the decision-making process of managers through different algorithms of lateral transshipments.

The numerical results show that the periodic delivery-continuous reorder policy is more robust than the others because the reorder process is not affected by the higher saturation that is achieved by periodic reorder–based policies. The new lateral transshipment algorithm will lead to huge savings in logistics costs for any company and increase truck saturation without causing a decrease in the service level.

This paper provides a novel institutional perspective on a complex logistics issue where COVD-19 is believed to complicate the context.

This solution is devised for any company to achieve even greater benefits in terms of customer service improvement and logistics costs reduction.

The main contribution of this paper is the proposal of a new lateral transshipment algorithm that shows performance improvement by simulating distribution network processes according to different configurations.

Short product life cycle and/or mass customization necessitate reconfiguration of operational enablers of supply chain (SC) from time to time in order to harness high levels of performance. The purpose of this paper is to identify the key operational enablers under stochastic environment on which practitioner should focus while reconfiguring a SC network.

The paper used interpretive structural modeling (ISM) approach that presents a hierarchy-based model and the mutual relationships among the enablers. The contextual relationship needed for developing structural self-interaction matrix (SSIM) among various enablers is realized by conducting experiments through simulation of a hypothetical SC network.

The research identifies various operational enablers having a high driving power towards assumed performance measures. In this regard, these enablers require maximum attention and of strategic importance while reconfiguring SC.

ISM provides a useful tool to the SC managers to strategically adopt and focus on the key enablers which have comparatively greater potential in enhancing the SC performance under given operational settings.

The present research realizes the importance of SC flexibility under the premise of reconfiguration of the operational units in order to harness high value of SC performance. Given the resulting digraph through ISM, the decision maker can focus the key enablers for effective reconfiguration. The study is one of the first efforts that develop contextual relations among operational enablers for SSIM matrix through integration of discrete event simulation to ISM.

The purpose of this paper is to examine major transformation portfolio governing practices. Previous research focuses on the structure of project portfolio governance and is relatively silent on micro-practices of governing. This paper intends to respond to this gap.

This qualitative case study draws upon practice approaches and the theoretical lens of organisational routines. The empirical inquiry is conducted across six major transformation portfolios in two UK central government departments. The data are collected through conducting semi-structured interviews and gathering documentary reports and analysed by adopting an abductive approach.

The findings highlight that two governing practices that have not been previously discussed in the literature: structuring the policy relationship and structuring the business relationship. These practices can be associated with the complex ownership system of the UK central government. The findings also show that in complex ownership systems owners may have different governing and supporting orientations. The micro-dynamics of these governing practices illustrate that the ecology of governing practices is complex, both in terms of the co-existence of complementary and competitive relationships between practices, and in terms of bundles of practices enacting different control regimes.

This qualitative case study supports further inquiry into major transformation portfolio governing and complex ownership systems.

The paper adopts a governance-as-practice approach and examines governing major transformation portfolios.

The purpose of this paper is to present a new outsourcing model for materials management related to the operating theatre of hospitals. Two distinguishing features characterize the model: the long-term collaborative network established among the supplying companies (the “Network factor”), and the implementation of the RFID technology along the supply chain (the “RFID factor”). The network factor allows sharing transportation costs, while the RFID factor allows implementing a continuous review policy, instead of the periodic review policy normally utilized in hospitals. In the paper the effect of these two factors on the minimization of total materials management costs is investigated.

An analytical model, validated through a simulation study, is proposed to calculate total management costs of materials, depending on the presence of the network and the RFID factors. Throughout the model it is possible to perform a scenario analysis and individuate the inventory management policy that allows minimizing total costs. The procedure has been applied to a real case study of a long-term collaborative network of supplying companies in the healthcare sector that operates in Central Italy.

The optimal inventory management policy strongly depends on the mutual distances of supplying companies and the hospital. Both of the two factors have an impact on the reduction of total annual costs. The analysis of the scenario shows that a positive interaction effect exists between the two factors, so that higher savings are obtained when both factors are present.

The outsourcing model presented in the paper is new, and the managerial insights that can be drawn from the application of the model to the healthcare sector can be extended to many other industries.

Logistics practitioners must continually improve inventory management processes as they daily respond to the twin drivers of customer satisfaction and cost efficiency. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the scenario of sourcing goods through lateral transshipments in a periodic-review policy setting, against a backdrop of cost optimization objectives.

The authors develop decision rules that make cost-optimized selection between backordering and combined reactive and proactive lateral transshipment options possible. This necessarily takes account of the trade-off between purchasing, holding and backorder cost components. In addition, the authors use simulation studies to illustrate the superior performance of the proposed decision options.

According to results of the simulation studies, the proposed two-step decision rule generates the lower inventory cost than the alternative decisions rules. The outperformance of proposed two-step decision rule is valid in different scenario.

This study develops the decision rules to assist wholesaler logistics practitioners to make optimized decisions with regard to whether they should proactively lateral transshipments and if selected, the optimum size of the extra lateral transshipment.

This study has made a significant contribution to the existing knowledge base as it develops decision rules for a combined proactive and reactive approach using lateral transhipments to meet both urgent demand and a part of the demand expected during the supplier lead time in a cost-efficient way.

Understanding how organisations can institutionalise the outcomes of process improvement initiatives is limited. This paper explores how process changes resulting from improvement initiatives are adhered to, so that the changed processes become the new “norm” and people do not revert to old practices. This study proposes an institutionalisation process for process improvement initiatives.

Firstly, a literature review identified Tolbert and Zucker’s (1996) institutionalisation framework as a suitable conceptual framework on which to base the enquiry. The second phase (the focus of this paper) applied the findings from two case studies to adapt this framework (its stages and related factors) to fit process improvement contexts.

The paper presents an empirically and theoretically supported novel institutionalisation process for process improvement initiatives. The three stages of the institutionalisation process presented by Tolbert and Zucker (1996) have been respecified into four stages, explaining how process changes are institutionalised through “Planning”, “Implementation”, “Objectification” and “Sedimentation” (the original first stage, i.e. “Habitualisation” being divided into Planning and Implementation). Some newly identified Business Process Management (BPM) specific factors influencing the institutionalisation processes are also discussed and triangulated with the BPM literature.

The study contributes to the BPM literature by conceptualising and theorising the stages of institutionalisation of process improvement initiatives. In doing so, the study explicitly identifies and considers several key contextual factors that drive the stages of institutionalisation. Practitioners can use this to better manage process change and future researchers can use this framework to operationalise institutionalisation of process change.

This is the first research study that provides an empirically supported and clearly conceptualised understanding of the stages of institutionalising process improvement outcomes.