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This study proposes targeted modernization of the Department of Defense (DoD's) Joint Forces Ammunition Logistics information system by implementing the optimized innovative information technology open architecture design and integrating Radio Frequency Identification Device data technologies and real-time optimization and control mechanisms as the critical technology components of the solution. The innovative information technology, which pursues the focused logistics, will be deployed in 36 months at the estimated cost of $568 million in constant dollars. We estimate that the Systems, Applications, Products (SAP)-based enterprise integration solution that the Army currently pursues will cost another $1.5 billion through the year 2014; however, it is unlikely to deliver the intended technical capabilities.

This chapter explores the historical development of shari’ah governance infrastructures in the Malaysian landscape, pre- and post-Islamic Financial Services Act 2013 (IFSA) and its implications on the industry. This chapter analyzed two approaches developed in the shari’ah governance, namely, the inclusivity and uniformity approach. Inclusivity approach showed that the shari’ah compliance responsibility is shared inclusively by the shari’ah committee together with the institution’s top management. While the uniformity approach showed that the end-to-end shari’ah compliance is achieved through issuance of shari’ah standards that can be easily related by the practitioners into their banking operations and business. The coherence implementation of these approaches has enabled another important stakeholder, the judiciary to have more clarity and certainty in dealing with matters pertaining to Islamic banking and finance. Consumers’ trust and confidence in the financial sector is thereby secured and sustained, hence providing financial stability within the industry, which meets with the expectation and mandate given to IFSA.

Food supply chain transparency and traceability is very important to address the issue regarding quality and safety. In traditional tracing system, with increasing the complexity of supply chain making product recalls difficult to manage and putting human lives at risk. To eliminate such types of risks, blockchain technology gives more efficient and reliable system for food tracing. Recently, there is an exponential rise in adoption of blockchain technology and most disparate IOT (Internet of things) devices in agriculture and food supply chain. It is an evolving technology that comforts the food supply chains by providing transparent data records and manage the food movement in the chain using distributed (P2P) network. That is more secured and there's no need for third party verifications. Our focus in this research will be on the Indian wheat supply chain and issues related to food losses caused by a lack of transparency and traceability. In order to improve the transparency of the wheat supply chain, we created an end-to-end smart wheat supply chain solution that combines blockchain technology, NFC tags, IoTs, and smart contracts. The solution is supported by entity relationship diagrams, information and money flow sequence diagrams, and a blockchain network diagram. We also used a security algorithm and the “NFC-Tag writer by NXP” program to validate and assess our system. This work could serve as a springboard for more in-depth research in this area. Depending on the existing situation in the industry, this research can also advise corporate procedures to deploy blockchain-based applications in the supply chain and logistics industry.

The present study discusses the benefits and importance of sociotechnical thinking for the integration of industry 4.0 (I4.0), and their subsequent usefulness in analyzing the value-added activities and related quality issues, and their implications in the quality 4.0 (Q4.0), product-service systems (PSS) in the organization level/complex systems in the era of I4.0. I4.0 pushed the traditional manufacturing models toward product-service systems; for this transition, social and economic factors influence more, and technological advancements are going more rapidly than the social developments needed for the transition. The integration of social-technical system perspective with I4.0 technologies adoption would improve the value cocreation of PSS. The balance among the sociotechnical systems theory (STST) and I4.0 technologies are necessary for production and logistics organizations. This can be attained by sociotechnical systems thinking because it gives a comprehensive overview for integrating I4.0 and related quality issues in the production and logistics service systems.

Many global organizations have identified limited availability of global talent as the primary limitation to their growth in key markets. At the same time, there is growing resistance to standard outsourcing arrangements among high-potential individuals, in locations such as India, who are no longer content serving as low-cost talent to perform narrowly circumscribed tasks that are “thrown over the wall” to them via e-mail. Rather than being second-class corporate citizens, these employees are looking for opportunities to rise into broader management and leadership roles, and are willing to move to a different employer if such possibilities for career growth are unavailable in their current workplace. They aspire to career paths that may include end-to-end responsibility for projects, including direct interface with internal or external customers, and comprehensive ownership of project scoping, implementation, and results. Organizations seeking to fully leverage their global talent must build skill sets among their employees that can enable them to move successfully beyond traditional outsourcing arrangements. Employees who have previously been in outsourcing roles often need to acquire capabilities such as executive presence, fluency in both micro- and macro-management practices, and leading with an agile style that adapts to different global market circumstances. Meanwhile, leaders from established markets must learn to apply a truly global perspective to tasks such as talent recruitment, performance management, and succession planning.

The unpredictable distribution of globalization has directed the world economy and revealed the need to establish cooperation in all business processes. This global structure also highlights the necessity of designing an agile supply chain that is capable of continuous information sharing during end-to-end transportation for the purpose of creating sustainable connections. In this process, various strategies enhanced with contemporary information and communication technologies have been developed to create a fast and accurate data-sharing network between logistics service providers and supply chain parties. However, unlike the short-term interruptions experienced in the past, COVID-19 has caused unprecedented problems in the dynamics of most economies. In eliminating these problems, it has been seen that information communication technologies, which provide the advantage of digital visibility in normal operations, need to be redesigned with the technology of the autonomous age. To meet this requirement, Industry 4.0, a revolutionary conceptual trend that started roughly a decade ago but that has become considerably more widespread during COVID-19, has been integrated into business models as a key concept that governs intelligent transformation in the chain. This process, which is today considered a compulsory intelligent transformation rather than an alternative method, has however led to some conflicts, especially in adaptation, expertise, and security subjects. This chapter of the book evaluates, within the scope of cybersecurity and workforce in logistics services, the conflicts created by the digital solution methods that have been integrated into business models to reduce the negative effects of COVID-19.