Search results

Emergency logistics is an important means to deal with disasters and public crises. Since the outbreak of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus in 2003, China has established and developed an emergency logistics management system. With the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in China, its emergency logistics system is facing unfolded challenges. The main purposes of this study are to explore the development of China’s emergency logistics system in this context and identify the critical success factors for such systems. A series of focus groups are organized to collect the opinions of 24 interviewees from three Chinese cities, namely Wuhan, Shanghai, and Xi’an. Through the analysis, a framework of the critical success factors for emergency logistics in China is recreated. The key elements are demand forecasting and planning, inventory management, distribution network, and systematic information management. Findings suggest critical points on the design and imple-mentation of the emergency logistics operations during a chaotic period.

In this study, AlCoCrFeNi–Cu (Cu-based) and AlCoCrFeNi–Ti (Ti-based) high entropy alloys (HEAs) were fabricated using a direct blown powder technique via laser additive manufacturing on an A301 steel baseplate for aerospace applications. The purpose of this research is to investigate the electrical resistivity and oxidation behavior of the as-built copper (Cu)- and titanium (Ti)-based alloys and to understand the alloying effect, the HEAs core effects and the influence of laser parameters on the physical properties of the alloys.

The as-received AlCoCrFeNiCu and AlCoCrFeNiTi powders were used to fabricate HEA clads on an A301 steel baseplate preheated at 400°C using a 3 kW Rofin Sinar dY044 continuous-wave laser-deposition system fitted with a KUKA robotic arm. The deposits were sectioned using an electric cutting machine and prepared by standard metallographic methods to investigate the electrical and oxidation properties of the alloys.

The results showed that the laser power had the most influence on the physical properties of the alloys. The Ti-based alloy had better resistivity than the Cu-based alloy, whereas the Cu-based alloy had better oxidation residence than the Ti-based alloy which attributed to the compositional alloying effect (Cu, aluminum and nickel) and the orderliness of the lattice, which is significantly associated with the electron transportation; consequently, the more distorted the lattice, the easier the transportation of electrons and the better the properties of the HEAs.

It is evident from the studies that the composition of HEAs and the laser processing parameters are two significant factors that influence the physical properties of laser deposited HEAs for aerospace applications.

In this paper, the authors study the production and pricing decisions of a remanufacturing supply chain composed of a supplier, an assembler and a remanufacturer, in which the remanufacturing of components requires patent licensing from the supplier.

The authors consider three different models with government subsidy for remanufacturing: (1) no government subsidies; (2) the government subsidizes the remanufacturing behavior of the supplier and (3) the government subsidizes the remanufacturing behavior of the remanufacturer and use the Stackelberg game model to solve and analyze the equilibrium wholesale prices of components and the equilibrium outputs of new and remanufactured products under three subsidy modes.

The results show that the equilibrium wholesale prices of two kinds of components decrease with the unit patent licensing fee and the unit government subsidy, and the equilibrium quantity of the remanufactured products under the three modes is obviously higher than that of the new products.

Finally through numerical simulation, it is found that the equilibrium profits of the supplier, the manufacturer and the supply chain increase monotonously in relation to the unit government subsidy, while the optimal profit of the assembler in relation to the unit government subsidy tends to decrease first and then increase.

This paper aims to assess the impact of green purchasing behavior (GPB) of a young generation in Pakistan.

The data were collected from students of different colleges affiliated with Shah Abdul Latif University from Sukkur and Larkana regions of Upper Sindh. A total of 400 questionnaires were administrated among students and 361 completed questionnaires were returned. A pen-and-paper method was applied to collect the data.

Model 1 revels that interpersonal influence and environmental knowledge were found positively related to GPB, whereas media and price were found positively but insignificantly related to GPB. Lastly, trust in green products was also found negatively and insignificantly related with GPB. Model 2 was used to test the moderating impact of price on the relationship between EA and GPB.

To promote GPB, government can play significant role by sponsoring environmental campaigns and environmental culture and these campaigns may include broadcasting promotional messages, distributing leaflets with utility bills, speeches in schools and colleges and advertisements with the help of printing and electronic sources.

Regarding green food purchase, this study’s results contribute to the literature by providing some theoretical contributions in literature. Green purchasing is so far a very new notion in Pakistan and therefore, literature on promotion of GPB is still lacking in the said country.

Buying companies in the food industry increasingly recognize the need to cultivate relationships with their suppliers. Social capital and power are important to understand buyer–supplier relationships. Maintaining these relationships appears highly dependent on the degree of information sharing.

The study investigates how power and social capital dimensions are related to information sharing. A survey of first-tier suppliers in the Dutch meat processing industry was carried out. The data from 82 suppliers was analyzed using partial least squares.

It appears that expert power contributes to the cognitive and structural social capital. In contrast, coercive power showed no influence at all. Cognitive and structural social capital dimensions have a direct link to relational social capital, which significantly improves buyer–supplier information sharing in the food industry.

Buying companies can encourage supplier information sharing by building up their own expertise and cultivating social relationships. They should refrain from strong-handed practices.

Companies in the food and food processing industry are dependent on effective information exchange for their very survival. This study investigates the role of power and social capital in making such exchange possible and sustainable.

The significant changes that supply chains (SCs) are undergoing and the emergence of disruptive technologies have led to a growing effort to integrate novel and mature technologies into existing SC strategies. Thus, this study investigates the relationships between mature information technologies (ITs), emerging IT and the lean supply chain (LSC) and agile supply chain (ASC) strategies.

An empirical study based on structural equation modeling of survey data from 256 Spanish focal companies has been conducted to test six hypotheses.

Drawing on resource orchestration, our results point to mature IT use being an enabler of both LSC and ASC strategy implementation. The results also show an LSC mediating effect on the relationship between mature IT and ASC when SCs follow both strategies. Also, the implementation of emerging IT requires a process of consolidation over time to be genuinely useful as a facilitating mechanism for developing both the lean and agile strategies along the SC. In this sense, a suitable mix needs to be orchestrated between emerging and mature IT.

This study sheds light on the relevance of the mature IT and emerging IT in the context of two SC strategies (lean/agile) and provides practical and theoretical implications.