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The field of Supply Chain Management (SCM) has mainly focused on applications for large firms, where significant amount of theory has been developed in the last decades. Little attention has been received by micro and small enterprises (MSEs) that in Latin America represent approximately 99% of all businesses and are the key for the development of the economy, employment, and growth of the region. Due to MSEs' lack of productivity, only a fraction of them survive and thus contribute to Latin America's economic growth. In this chapter, we discuss the connection between MSEs' productivity growth and SCM. We present key takeaways from the literature and summarized different research approaches used to study this emerging field, specifically related to the impact of the size of the company, the use of surveys to gather data, and the importance of field interventions. We also present a large-scale project (i.e., MIT GeneSys) that focuses on improving survival of MSEs in developing countries and discuss some preliminary learnings gained via conducting shadowing/immersion of ∼250 MSEs from Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. We conclude the chapter by presenting some recommendations for the future research agenda for the emerging field of SCM for MSEs in Latin America.

In a global positioning system (GPS) receiver, one of the most time-consuming tasks is to identify and track the visible satellites. The paper aims to propose and examine in detail new and shorter identification patterns or lite pseudo-codes – pseudo-random numbers (PRNs) – that allow GPS receivers to reduce dramatically the computational effort to identify and track GPS satellites. Obtaining lite pseudo-codes is a multi-objective optimization problem that the paper resolves using genetic algorithms (GAs).

The lite PRNs are obtained by using NSGA-II and omni-optimizer multi-objective optimization techniques.

The new PRNs obtained with the proposed single/multi-objective solutions are always better than previously presented when the highest detection peak (DP) is required for the GPS receiver.

Results demonstrate that the problem of “obtaining lite pseudo-codes” is a multi-objective optimization problem. In other words, the solutions obtained with the single-objective approach could belong to a local minimum. The multi-objective approach provides a better solution than the single-objective approach in a 37 percent of the satellites while in other cases the multi-objective approach reaches the same DPs with a similar noise.

How to keep employees engaged, rewarded and retained to improve the end-user and customer experience.

This study provides practical advice on how a business can attract, recruit, retain and develop talented employees to improve customer service, using the author’s experience at Genesys.

This study explores various research findings including Coleman Parks to establish the challenges organizations face when trying to ensure employees are engaged with their own business.

This is my viewpoint on the situation; I have researched various areas of employee engagement to understand why organizations are facing challenges, and I can provide unique insight as we work with world-leading brands to use technology that will solve these problems in some way at the least.

Planning and scheduling are forms of decision making, which play a crucial role in manufacturing as well as in service industries. In the current competitive environment, effective sequencing and scheduling has become a necessity for survival in the marketplace. A great challenge for today’s companies is not only how to adapt to this changing, competitive business environment but also how to draw a competitive advantage from the way in which they choose to do so. Intelligent solutions, based on expert systems, to solve problems in the field of production planning and scheduling are becoming more and more widespread nowadays. Proposes an expert system, which uses the prevailing conditions in the industrial environment in order to select and “fire” dynamically the most appropriate scheduling algorithm from a library of many candidate algorithms.

It is the aim of this article to describe how Welsh Water improved customer service partly by using technology to provide agile working at its contact centers and ensure its 600 agents are optimally employed.

The article provides the background to the introduction of new contact‐center technology, the form it takes and the results it has achieved.

It is explained that the system has helped to: reduce response times; resolve more customer queries at the first point of contact; enable the introduction of new customer‐communication channels; deliver cost savings through efficiencies; cut support costs; and improve management information.

Further improvements that Welsh Water can now go on to make are detailed.

The importance of good customer service in the utilities industries is highlighted.

The article reveals how technology can help to boost employee productivity.

Micro and small enterprises (MSEs) represent 99% of Peruvian firms, contribute 42% of Peru's Gross Domestic Product, and employ half of the country's labor force. Despite their relevance for the Peruvian Economy, they have low survival rates and are characterized by low productivity and processes inefficiencies. This chapter explores whether the adoption of Business and Supply Chain Management (SCM) practices influences MSEs' performance. We conducted a field study using data from 50 MSEs located in Piura, Peru, specifically from trade, service, and manufacturing sectors. We used the data collection guidelines from the MIT GeneSys to measure the firms' adoption of Business and SCM practices. Our results show that MSEs with higher adoption of Financial Planning, Supply Chain Planning, Supplier Relationship Management, Marketing, Procurement, and Stock Control practices are more likely to have higher revenue (i.e., sales). In addition, a multiple regression analysis reveals that while SCM practices do not seem to directly explain productivity growth in MSEs (as business practices do), they, however, seem to influence the performance of business practices, and, thus, have an indirect effect on the productivity growth of MSEs.

Outlines the general reasons behind negligent supervision such as lack of training, lack of communication and lack of understanding. Outlines a case study regarding a corporate law department in some depth. Provides three other case studies before proceeding to consider the effects on employees and suggest solutions to prevent negligent supervision. Concludes that supervisors have significant roles to undertake and sufficient training must be provided, together with professional recruitment to minimize unsuitable candidates.

The authors have developed an educational model that operates at the undergraduate level and aims to produce graduates who can comfortably operate in the gulf between the laboratory bench and the commercial marketplace. The purpose of the paper is to describe the course, approaches, activities and initial outcomes of the Bachelor of Biotechnology Innovation course at Queensland University of Technology.

Students undertake “hard science” subjects and business subjects on entrepreneurship, innovation and market development. Synthesis of these disparate disciplines is driven through formation of virtual companies that serve to contextualize subject content and provide start‐up company experience across the four‐year course. Student companies design biotechnology products and processes and can progress their product through initial research and development phases or undertake an industry‐based internship working as a team on initial concept projects. This focused, team‐based approach to learning is contrary to traditional science courses that focus on the individual.

Outcomes include graduates of high quality that have moved into positions associated with commercialization and technology transfer where previously a PhD and MBA were required qualifications. Other measures of course success include acceptance and promotion of the new course by business, academia and government.

Postgraduate courses provide the most common pathway for assisted self‐development of entrepreneurial skills in science and engineering graduates. In contrast, this model aims to train entrepreneurs in technological disciplines at an undergraduate level in a framework where innovation and enterprising behaviour are embedded in the fabric of the degree.