Search results

The purpose of this paper is to study the effects of the requirement on product quality and refund (return service charge).

The authors set a minimum product quality level for platform to study the effects of the minimum product quality level on product quality and refund for risk-neutral sellers and risk-averse sellers, respectively.

For the risk-neutral sellers whose optimal product quality level is lower than the minimum level will improve the product quality to the minimum required level. However, under a certain condition with the requirement the sellers will increase refund. Similar results are found when uncertainty is incorporated into demand and return quantity. In addition, how the sellers’ optimal refund is affected by market parameters and market volatile factors is discussed. Specially, the correlation between the uncertainty of the demand and the return quantity affects sellers’ optimal decision of return service charge in many ways.

The obtained results can provide operational managers in reality with valuable suggestions in quality management for platform.

The higher education world around us is changing fast. Mobile learning (M-learning) and apps in education are new and exciting. However, this does not mean that the faculty is less relevant. On the contrary, the faculty are an ever-important factor that is needed to increase student engagement. Disengaged students are in fact more problematic than low achieving students. This is because of the disruption disengaged student bring in the classroom. Therefore, increasing student engagement is a key challenge in higher education today. Research suggests that active learning, value and expectations are important factors that determine student engagement. Some of these factors can be indirectly influenced by the faculty and course designers. Against this background, the objective of this chapter is to examine if dwindling student engagement in higher education can be addressed with CURPA, i.e. a CURriculum and course planning (CURP) App. CURPA is the result of our efforts at Utrecht University to help design courses and curricula by using cards to account for different activities, with the strategic aim being to stimulate student engagement in higher education. Our expert interviews resulted in a MoSCoW-prioritised list of requirements that can be implemented over time, structured in line with Becker's student engagement model.

The paper provides an overview of research published in the innovation and operations management (IOM) literature on 15 methods for cost management in new product development, and it provides a comparison to an earlier review of the management accounting (MA) literature (Wouters & Morales, 2014).

This structured literature search covers papers published in 23 journals in IOM in the period 1990–2014.

The search yielded a sample of 208 unique papers with 275 results (one paper could refer to multiple cost management methods). The top 3 methods are modular design, component commonality, and product platforms, with 115 results (42%) together. In the MA literature, these three methods accounted for 29%, but target costing was the most researched cost management method by far (26%). Simulation is the most frequently used research method in the IOM literature, whereas this was averagely used in the MA literature; qualitative studies were the most frequently used research method in the MA literature, whereas this was averagely used in the IOM literature. We found a lot of papers presenting practical approaches or decision models as a further development of a particular cost management method, which is a clear difference from the MA literature.

This review focused on the same cost management methods, and future research could also consider other cost management methods which are likely to be more important in the IOM literature compared to the MA literature. Future research could also investigate innovative cost management practices in more detail through longitudinal case studies.

This review of research on methods for cost management published outside the MA literature provides an overview for MA researchers. It highlights key differences between both literatures in their research of the same cost management methods.

This paper aims to develop a framework of QFD (quality function deployment)‐based logistics service design to integrate the HOQ (house of quality) technique and modular logic to help in designing logistics services with high quality and a large service variety.

Based on a literature review, a conceptual research framework is built integrating the QFD method and modular logic together. A case study is used to illustrate a real application in logistics service design of the third‐party logistics (3PL) provider.

The results show that QFD and modularity used simultaneously as design principles can ensure service design quality at three layers (service, process, activity) in the modular logistics service platform.

This paper provides multi‐disciplinary insights for both industry and academics on how QFD/HOQ and modular logic can be integrated to systematically translate customer requirements into logistics service designs.

The framework proposed is directed to show how, at the operational level, the service providers can transform customer requirements to customer value with modular services and develop new service modules more quickly for new customers that have not been served before.

The resulting framework combining QFD philosophy and modular logic, particularly integrating three‐level HOQs paralleled with three layers in the modular service platform, adds knowledge in the research on service design, operations management and marketing.

This paper deals with the organizing of interactive product development. Developing products in interaction between firms may provide benefits in terms of specialization, increased innovation, and possibilities to perform development activities in parallel. However, the differentiation of product development among a number of firms also implies that various dependencies need to be dealt with across firm boundaries. How dependencies may be dealt with across firms is related to how product development is organized. The purpose of the paper is to explore dependencies and how interactive product development may be organized with regard to these dependencies.

The analytical framework is based on the industrial network approach, and deals with the development of products in terms of adaptation and combination of heterogeneous resources. There are dependencies between resources, that is, they are embedded, implying that no resource can be developed in isolation. The characteristics of and dependencies related to four main categories of resources (products, production facilities, business units and business relationships) provide a basis for analyzing the organizing of interactive product development.

Three in-depth case studies are used to explore the organizing of interactive product development with regard to dependencies. The first two cases are based on the development of the electrical system and the seats for Volvo’s large car platform (P2), performed in interaction with Delphi and Lear respectively. The third case is based on the interaction between Scania and Dayco/DFC Tech for the development of various pipes and hoses for a new truck model.

The analysis is focused on what different dependencies the firms considered and dealt with, and how product development was organized with regard to these dependencies. It is concluded that there is a complex and dynamic pattern of dependencies that reaches far beyond the developed product as well as beyond individual business units. To deal with these dependencies, development may be organized in teams where several business units are represented. This enables interaction between different business units’ resource collections, which is important for resource adaptation as well as for innovation. The delimiting and relating functions of the team boundary are elaborated upon and it is argued that also teams may be regarded as actors. It is also concluded that a modular product structure may entail a modular organization with regard to the teams, though, interaction between business units and teams is needed. A strong connection between the technical structure and the organizational structure is identified and it is concluded that policies regarding the technical structure (e.g. concerning “carry-over”) cannot be separated from the management of the organizational structure (e.g. the supplier structure). The organizing of product development is in itself a complex and dynamic task that needs to be subject to interaction between business units.

The essential investments in new product development (NPD) made by industrial companies entail effective management of NPD activities. In this context, performance measurement is one of the means that can be employed in the pursuit of effectiveness.

The focus of this research is to investigate if user-generated content (UGC) generated in the Booking platform can support quality management improvement within the hospitality industry by increasing customer satisfaction and eliminating defects more efficiently. Hence, it contributes to understanding how data-driven companies can rely on customer data to focus on innovation and performance improvement to meet customer requirements, eliminate defects and increase customer satisfaction.

Following the literature review, information was collected from the digital platform Booking, encompassing 15 hotel industry companies in Portugal Porto and Braga regions, selected due to their high number of customer reviews. This data was organized and categorized, eliminating all unnecessary information for the research and building an Excel database. The database was subsequently analysed with SPSS and Voyant software, performing statistical analysis, hypothesis testing and text-mining techniques to analyse the comments. After these analyses, applying quality tools allowed for more in-depth conclusions.

The research results highlight that customers' most relevant requirements in the Portuguese hospitality industry are breakfast, parking and a swimming pool. It was also possible to realize that the location is an attractive requirement, the bathroom is a must-be requirement and breakfast is a performance requirement. The results also allowed us to answer the most critical research question: “Is user-generated content a valuable aid to quality?” the answer is yes since it was possible to use the data to find improvements and faults/failures in the services.

The results of this study represent an essential step towards a complete understanding of how to take advantage of UGC within the hospitality industry by establishing a solid base of techniques, methods and quality tools for UGC analysis that can be applied in future research on different industry sectors.

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.

Internet + and Electronic Business in China is a comprehensive resource that provides insight and analysis into E-commerce in China and how it has revolutionized and continues to revolutionize business and society. Split into four distinct sections, the book first lays out the theoretical foundations and fundamental concepts of E-Business before moving on to look at internet+ innovation models and their applications in different industries such as agriculture, finance and commerce. The book then provides a comprehensive analysis of E-business platforms and their applications in China before finishing with four comprehensive case studies of major E-business projects, providing readers with successful examples of implementing E-Business entrepreneurship projects.

Internet + and Electronic Business in China is a comprehensive resource that provides insights and analysis into how E-commerce has revolutionized and continues to revolutionize business and society in China.