Search results

Refractory materials are now used in all major industries that demand high-temperature resistance, including petrochemicals, steel, cement and aviation. Businesses must decrease operating costs, enhance product technology, sell well and manage corporate risks in decision-making, notably supplier selection, to be more competitive. The study aims to determine the key criteria and factors of supplier selection and to evaluate the importance of the key factor of the supplier selection criteria for the refractory materials manufacturers in Taiwan.

Analytical hierarchy process (AHP) is used to rank these factors for the decision maker. The AHP method is suitable for verifying refractory supplier selection criteria and providing references. The weighted loss scores for each supplier are then determined using the relative importance as the weights. Supplier selection criteria are ranked using their aggregate weighted loss scores. The provider with the lowest loss score should be chosen.

Product quality is the most significant of the five criteria: product quality, production technology, logistics capacity, service capability and supplier background. Professionalism is the most significant aspect of product quality, whereas equipment and capacity are vital in manufacturing techniques. The studies also show that the delivery rate is essential for logistics and service capabilities.

This research has important implications for refractory suppliers in promptly fine-tuning the production and service to enhance customer satisfaction, which is key to business sustainability.

The application of an AHP technique to a real-world industrial issue is what makes this research unique. This research addressed one of the most critical topics in supply chain operations by offering better judgement for supplier selection via the use of suitable quantitative methodologies.

This paper aims to define a hierarchical and multi-criteria framework based on pillars of the Modernization of Higher Education to evaluate European Accounting Doctoral Programmes (EADE-Model).

The authors applied a quali-quantitative methodology based on the analytic hierarchy process and the survey approach. The authors conducted an extensive literature and regulation review to identify the dimensions affecting the quality of Doctoral Programmes, choosing accounting as the relevant and pivotal field. The authors also used the survey to select the most critical quality dimensions and derive their weight to build EADE Model. The validity of the proposed model has been tested through the application to the Italian scenario.

The findings provide a critical extension of accounting ranking studies constructing a multi-criteria, hierarchical and updated evaluation model recognizing the role of doctoral training in the knowledge-based society. The results shed new light on weak areas apt to be improved and propose potential amendments to enhance the quality standard of ADE.

Theoretical and practical implications of this paper are directed to academics, policymakers and PhD programmes administrators.

The research is original in drafting a hierarchical multi-criteria framework for evaluating ADE in the Higher Education System. This model may be extended to other fields.

This study aims to investigate the supplier selection criteria, relationship quality and level of collaboration in Asian food businesses, while also examining the link between these practices and business performance. The research focusses on food manufacturing and exporting companies in two emerging economies, China and Vietnam.

Food manufacturing and exporting companies in two emerging economies – China and Vietnam were surveyed and analysed to extract factors that reflect supplier management and business performance along with their relationship by factor analysis and hierarchical regression. Then, a two-step cluster analysis was applied to identify clusters based on supplier management and explore how different business performance groups manage their suppliers.

Four clusters that are distinct sets of food firms with detailed references about their typical characteristics revealing their business performance and supplier management practices. Also, the study confirms that certificates, reliability and inspection results constitute the factor of quality-related criteria for food firms. It is an interesting insight into what firms prioritise in selecting and maintaining collaboration and relationships with suppliers that reflect actual demanding specifications for supplier conformity.

The study reveals the business status of the studied companies and each group's specific references, such as the criteria they prefer to select suppliers, the relationship quality and the level of collaboration.

The study is a useful reference for both researchers and practitioners to have a comprehensive view of supplier management in the food industry based on the viewpoint of Asian food manufacturers.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how Danish higher education institutions (HEIs) navigate the demands and expectations of accreditation procedures, and how the limited freedom posed by accreditation schemes is used by HEIs by way of translation.

Through document studies of policy documents and the institutional self-assessment reports, the paper follows the concept of quality from the international level to the Danish national level, and onwards into the individual HEIs, where the authors examine how notions of quality are constructed through the translation of national regulation, guidelines and procedures of accreditation into the self-narratives of the self-assessment reports.

The authors find that the national guidelines for accreditation represents a complex translation of supranational guidelines by minimizing certain aspects and enhancing others. This national translation is then analyzed as the frame for the institutional translations where the analysis reveals how HEIs exercise a great deal of agency, within a quite narrow frame constituted by regulations and guidelines.

By using the Olivers (1991) typology of organizational responses, the authors discuss how the HEIs not only imitate and abide to institutionalized norms and concepts of quality but also reformulate, edit, omit and enhance certain elements of quality. The authors demonstrate that when accreditation meets the HEIs, it is clearly the national agendas that are most pervasive and offer the most relevant vocabulary for the HEIs.

This paper presents a decision-making framework for e-banking operations, based on the Quality Function Deployment and the Analytic Hierarchy Process. The main research question is the development of a framework and its potential contributions in supporting decision makers in implementing quality strategies that will encourage the usage of e-banking services (EBS).

The introduced framework comprises four distinct stages which include criteria determination, field surveys and EFA, QFD application including AHP and finally sensitivity analysis investigating the dynamic nature of the environment. AHP determines the intensity of the relationship between e-banking quality criteria and customer banking activities. A novel House of Quality (HoQ) is proposed, based on a market mix founded on key e-banking activities, and sensitivity analysis is used to investigate alternative scenarios. To illustrate the steps of applying this framework, the authors use a convenience sample from the Greek e-banking sector.

Through the illustrated example is supported that the proposed approach can reveal valuable information when contemplating strategies to improve e-banking usage and expand its acceptance. In addition, sensitivity analysis leads to purposeful insights regarding the effects of market segmentation and/or target settings on the ranking of e-banking quality/selection criteria provided by the HoQ. In the specific numerical example, the most critical quality factors were “Security and Reliability”, “Convenience”, “Design”, “Pricing” and “Skills,” although different rankings night well appear in different contexts or geographical regions. Moreover, sensitivity analysis showed that these results depend on the specific market mix and targets. As mentioned above, the implementation of the framework in different geographical regions or e-service sectors might certainly reveal different critical factors.

Discussed in the paper body.

Discussed in the paper body.

The paper presents a well-defined four stage framework for improving EBS penetration. It utilizes a structured qualitative and quantitative approach and outlines and ranks e-banking quality factors stemming from the market mix and allows assessment of alternative scenarios through sensitivity analysis.

An ever-increasing number of companies outsource logistics activities to third-party logistics (3PL) providers to beat the competition. From the buyer's (shippers') perspective, selecting the right 3PL provider is crucial, and from the 3PL provider's perspective, it is imperative to be attractive and to retain clients. To this aim, a potential lever can be physical assets, such as warehouses, which the literature has traditionally neglected. The objective is to benchmark the importance of warehouses for 3PL providers to attract/retain clients and for shippers to select the right 3PL provider.

The authors performed an empirical investigation through interviews on dyads (3PL providers/shippers) and utilized the Best-Worst Method (BWM) to rank the criteria used in the 3PL buying process and allow the warehouse's role to emerge.

Results show that the 3PL buying process consists of four phases and three evaluation steps. The selection criteria are classified into three groups: order qualifiers, order winners and retention factors. The warehouse has different levels of importance throughout the process. It appears that it can indirectly enhance the attractiveness and retention capability of 3PL providers through other selection criteria.

By combining the resource-based view and the customer value theory, this research extends the theory on logistics outsourcing by studying the phases of the 3PL buying process and scrutinizing the criteria used in different evaluation steps. The research adds a double perspective of analysis (3PL providers and shippers), which is missing in the literature, and focuses on the importance of warehouses.

Online shoppers make product purchase decisions based on product information shown on a retailer's website and potentially in comparison to that seen on competitors' websites. Insufficient, poor quality or missing information about a product can lead to reduced retailer sales. Measuring online product information quality (PIQ) is therefore an essential element in helping retailers maximize their potential success. This paper aims (1) to identify directly quantifiable PIQ criteria, (2) to assess the effects of PIQ and (3) to evaluate the moderating effect of product involvement.

The authors conducted a scenario-based experiment within 3,544 do-it-yourself (DIY) online shoppers from the United Kingdom (UK). Within an 8 × 2 × 2 between-subjects design, the authors manipulated the factors PIQ criteria (8), PIQ level (2) and product type (2).

The findings support that poor PIQ has a negative impact on consumers online shopping outcomes. The authors also found that the effects of PIQ differ between the various criteria, the product category and the level of consumer involvement in the selling process. In the context of product depiction, title readability and product attribute comparability with other retailers' websites a high level of PIQ is required. Moreover, high involvement products need a higher level of PIQ than low involvement products.

This research expands website quality and service failure literature by introducing PIQ criteria and its effects in the context of online retailing. The authors also establish actionable managerial recommendations to assist retailers to embrace and utilize PIQ to better understand their own potential website and thus business improvements.

Quality assessment of textile products is of prime concern to intimately meet consumer demands. The dilemma faced by textile producers is to figure out the stability among quality criteria and efficiently deal with target specifications. Hence, the basic devotion is to attain the optimum value product which entirely satisfies the views and perceptions of consumers. Selection of best fabric among several alternatives in the presence of contradictory measures is a disputing problem in multicriteria decision-making.

In the current study, the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and preference ranking organization method for enrichment evaluation (PROMETHEE) are proficiently used to solve the problem in selection of branded woven shawls. AHP method verifies comparative weights of the criteria selection, while the ranking of fabric alternatives grounded on specific net-outranking flows is executed through PROMETHEE II method.

The collective AHP and PROMETHEE approaches are applied for the useful accomplishment of grading of branded shawls based on multicriteria weights, used for effective selection of fabric materials in the textile market.

In the apparel industry, fabric and garment manufacturers often rely on hit-and-trial methods, leading to significant wastage of valuable resources and time, in achieving the desirable fabric qualities. The implementation of the findings can assist apparel manufacturers in streamlining their fabric selection processes based on multiple criteria. By adopting this method, industry players can make informed decisions, ensuring a balance between quality standards and consumer expectations, thereby enhancing both product value and market competitiveness.

The methods of Visual PROMETHEE and AHP are assimilated to offer a complete method for the selection and grading of fabrics with reference to multiple selection criteria.

This paper aims to understand and document evaluation criteria used in the new product development (NPD) process of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to support the management and control of their NPD projects.

This study combines exploratory and explanatory methodology (case studies) involving five Canadian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that are successful in NPD. The authors conducted semi-structured interviews with nine selected managers and project managers to explore the process and evaluation criteria used to manage and control NPD projects.

The results highlight that cost, time and quality are key evaluation criteria used by SMEs to make decisions relative to the NPD project's success. Profitability, return on investment, expected sales and customer satisfaction are additional criteria used to evaluate NPD project's success. It has been also found that the SMEs did not consider sustainability issues in the criteria used as their focus are on the needs of stakeholders, mainly customers.

Limitations: The evaluation criteria are extracted from a limited number of SMEs that have successfully carried out NPD projects and may therefore be influenced by some contextual factors. The results cannot be generalized to all SMEs or to all projects, as their characteristics may differ. Implications: This study offers a novel outlook on NPD process in SMEs, by documenting criteria related to constraints in project management. The integration of theory of constraints contributes to increasing theoretical knowledge about the management and control of NPD projects in SMEs. It provides insight into how project managers (and other decision makers) can increase the chances of project success by managing project constraints and criteria.

The evaluation criteria identified in this study can therefore be of use to SMEs managers and project leaders seeking to improve the management and control of their NPD projects. These criteria can help them better manage their limited resources and skills and allocate them to the most promising projects. They can also help them conduct their NPD process more efficiently to achieve the intended objectives, including the desired project profitability targets.

This paper offers new insight and practical implications about evaluation criteria within the stages and activities of the NPD process that needed to be considered by SMEs' managers involved in NPD projects.

The purpose of the study is to propose a framework for fleet management and make suitable distribution solution choices in the food industry.

This study reviews the literature to examine food distribution criteria. These criteria are used in the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) assessment and combined with discrete events simulation in a structured framework, which is validated through an empirical study.

The empirical case results demonstrate that both the AHP and discrete events simulation converge toward the same solution in most cases.

This study contributes to the literature on distribution management and develops a framework that can both guide future research and aid logistics practitioners in analysing distribution decision-making systems in dynamic environments.