Dynamics in chains and networks


Book Description

"Companies in food- and agribusiness chains and networks are facing ever-faster changes in the business environment, to which they must respond through continuous innovation. Societal concerns regarding animal welfare and environmental issues have to be met in a very competitive, increasingly global environment. The growing concern of consumers regarding the quality, traceability and environmental friendliness of products and processes call for fundamentally new ways of developing, producing and marketing products. New ways of organizing food supply networks, with new ties between firms and even between formerly separate sectors -such as the health and the food sector- are needed to cope with these new demands. This publication focusses on the dynamic response to these changes in chains and networks. Important topics include among others: critical success factors for design and control of innovative chains and networks, globalization of the business environment, effects of institutional and policy change, governance structures, technologies for managing interaction and design of information architectures for chains and networks."




Supply Chain Network Economics


Book Description

This book is the first to bring an economics perspective in a rigorous manner to complex decision-making in the management of supply chains. It provides the foundations for the modeling of the interrelationships among decision-makers in supply chains, ranging from manufacturers, distributors, and retailers, to the consumers, assuming individualized behavior. The models handle both competition and cooperation and provide the resulting product flows and prices in the chains. A unique network economics perspective is brought to the issue, setting the book apart from the numerous management and operations research volumes available. After an introduction of the theoretical foundations, the book then extends and applies the theory to energy supply chains in the form of electric power generation and distribution networks. The relationships between electric power supply chains and transportation networks are vividly captured through theoretical results and the solution of practical examples. The book then explores environmental supply chain and financial networks with intermediation, which are interpreted as supply chains and also solved as such. Throughout, the underlying theme is that of transportation networks and how the relationships between supply chain networks and the more established theory of transportation network equilibria can be applied and exploited for logistic-type applications. Economists and transportation researchers will find the book's theory and applications of great interest. Operations researchers and management scientists as well as practitioners in business logistics will be interested in the book's methodological and practical tools.




Dynamic Supply Chains


Book Description

‘Dynamic Supply Chains is a masterpiece in the field of supply chain management’ Dr Rakesh Singh, Chairman, Institute of Supply Chain Management, India Dynamic supply chains are at the heart of your business. You need to get them right. Are your supply chains equipped to compete for a faster, more flexible future? Supply chains are not just part of your business: in many ways they are your business. They are made up of living, active people, and to really get supply chains right you need to capture the dynamism that people can bring to the flow of goods and services, both inside and outside your business. In this third edition of Dynamic Supply Chains, renowned international expert John Gattorna gives you a practical and effective new model for supply chains that will help you get closer to your customers and suppliers, and set your business on a new path to growth. John’s ‘outside-in’ philosophy is based on ‘Design Thinking’ principles, underpinned by business analytics, visualization, and the passion to get things done. This is indeed, supply chains by design.




Dynamic Supply Chains ePub


Book Description

“John Gattorna is one of the most original thinkers in the fast-changing arena of supply chain management. He has pioneered the idea of dynamic alignmentwhich is so powerfully presented in this ground-breaking book.” Martin Christopher, Professor of Marketing & Logistics, Cranfield School of Management Supply chains are at the heart of competitive advantage in business today. If supply chains are managed successfully, companies will be able to deliver their products and services to customers in a smart, cost-effective way. The key to successful supply chain management is recognising that it’s people who really drive the living supply chains that are at the heart of businesses. Supply chains are powered by the energy and expertise of employees and suppliers and by the changing wants and needs of customers. John Gattorna calls this principle of matching changing customer needs and desires with different supply chain strategies dynamic alignment. To secure space in a new market, to grow or keep existing markets companies have to get their products out there faster. They need to be the first with new products and services and the first to match them with particular customer groups. The dynamic alignment model gives a structured way of linking customer expectations to the operational side of business while maintaining the flexibility to systematically modify fulfilment processes as customers inevitably change their buying preferences.




Networks, Topology and Dynamics


Book Description

There is convergent consensus among scientists that many social, economic and ?nancial phenomena can be described by a network of agents and their inter- tions. Surprisingly, even though the application ?elds are quite different, those n- works often show a common behaviour. Thus, their topological properties can give useful insights on how the network is structured, which are the most “important” nodes/agents, how the network reacts to new arrivals. Moreover the network, once included into a dynamic context, helps to model many phenomena. Among the t- ics in which topology and dynamics are the essential tools, we will focus on the diffusion of technologies and fads, the rise of industrial districts, the evolution of ?nancial markets, cooperation and competition, information ?ows, centrality and prestige. The volume, including recent contributions to the ?eld of network modelling, is based on the communications presented at NET 2006 (Verbania, Italy) and NET 2007 (Urbino, Italy); offers a wide range of recent advances, both theoretical and methodological, that will interest academics as well as practitioners. Theory and applications are nicely integrated: theoretical papers deal with graph theory, game theory, coalitions, dynamics, consumer behavior, segregation models and new contributions to the above mentioned area. The applications cover a wide range: airline transportation, ?nancial markets, work team organization, labour and credit market.




Modelling Supply Chain Dynamics


Book Description

This book discusses supply chain management, focusing on developments within modelling the dynamic behaviour of the supply chain. Aimed at postgraduate students, researchers and practitioners, this book provides an in-depth knowledge of the dynamics of supply chains. Business trends such as the globalisation process and the increase of competition across many industrial sectors have forced companies to concentrate on their core competences and to outsource those activities in which they do not excel. As a consequence, companies no longer produce and distribute their goods in isolation, but being part of a supply chain or supply network, i.e. a set of interrelated companies who ultimately deliver the goods and services to the final customer. Despite the prevalence of supply chains as the primary form of production and distribution, their performance can be seriously hampered by the complex dynamics resulting from the collaboration and coordination (or lack thereof) among their members. This book provides the reader with modelling tools to understand, analyse and improve the dynamic behaviour of supply chains. It assembles seminal works on supply chain models and recent developments on the topic in order to provide a comprehensive, unified vision of the field for researchers and practitioners who wish to grasp the challenges of supply chain management. Aside presenting the main elements, equations and performance indicators governing the dynamics of a supply chain, and the book addresses issues such as the effect of timely and accurately sharing the information across members, the influence of restrictions on the productive capacities of their members, or the impact of the variability of the lead times, among others. Furthermore, more complex supply chain structures such as non-serial supply networks or closed-loop supply chains are modelled and discussed. Relevant managerial insights regarding the causes of supply chain underperformance, as well as avenues to improve their efficiency can be extracted from the resulting models.




Maritime Networks


Book Description

Maritime transport is one of the most ancient supports to human interactions across history and it still supports more than 90% of world trade volumes today. The changing connectivity of maritime networks is of crucial importance to port, transport, and economic development and planning. The way ports, terminals, but also cities, regions and countries, are connected with each other through maritime flows is not well-known and difficult to represent and measure, even for the transport actors themselves. There is a strong, urgent need for reviewing the relevant theories, concepts, methods, and sources that can be mobilized for the analysis of maritime networks. With contributions from reputable scholars from all over the world, this book investigates the analysis of maritime flows and networks from diverse disciplinary angles going across archaeology, history, geography, regional science, economics, mathematics, physics, and computer sciences. Based on a vast array of methods, such as Geographical Information Systems (GIS), spatial analysis, complex networks, modelling, and simulation, it addresses several crucial issues related with port hierarchy; route density; modal interdependency; network robustness and vulnerability; traffic concentration and seasonality; technological change and urban/regional economic development. This book examines new evidence about how socio-economic trends are reflected (but also influenced) by maritime flows and networks, and about the way this knowledge can support and enhance decision-making in relation to the development of ports, supply chains, and transport networks in general. This book is an ideal companion to anyone interested in the network analysis of transport systems and economic systems in general, as well as the effective ways to analyse large datasets to answer complex issues in transportation and socio-economic development.




Dynamic Supply Chain Alignment


Book Description

Just like the world financial system, but for different reasons, 21st-century corporations need a new business model for their enterprise supply chains. The old conventions no longer work in this new world of volatile and increasingly unpredictable demand and supply. The enterprise needs to become more 'connected' to its own parts, as well as its partners up and down the chains it participates in. So too, we need to embrace new ways of looking at customers to gain deeper, more insightful impressions of what they are telling us about the way they want to buy our products and services. Finally, these signals need converting into corresponding action, driven by the people in the business, leaders and staff alike, who are aligned to their customers' wishes. This is the world of dynamic supply chain alignment where, increasingly, supply chains are the business. In the follow-up to his hugely successful Strategic Supply Chain Alignment, John Gattorna's Dynamic Supply Chain Alignment, explores how to create and sustain multiple supply chains with a level of flexibility and responsiveness that allow you to respond to opportunities and threats; at the same time aligning with your suppliers, your partners and your customers. When more executives get to this stage of development the profits will flow more readily, and sustainability of performance will not be the same issue it is today. The way forward is right there in front of us; but, says John Gattorna, we must throw off old ways and embrace the new.




The Structure and Dynamics of Networks


Book Description

From the Internet to networks of friendship, disease transmission, and even terrorism, the concept--and the reality--of networks has come to pervade modern society. But what exactly is a network? What different types of networks are there? Why are they interesting, and what can they tell us? In recent years, scientists from a range of fields--including mathematics, physics, computer science, sociology, and biology--have been pursuing these questions and building a new "science of networks." This book brings together for the first time a set of seminal articles representing research from across these disciplines. It is an ideal sourcebook for the key research in this fast-growing field. The book is organized into four sections, each preceded by an editors' introduction summarizing its contents and general theme. The first section sets the stage by discussing some of the historical antecedents of contemporary research in the area. From there the book moves to the empirical side of the science of networks before turning to the foundational modeling ideas that have been the focus of much subsequent activity. The book closes by taking the reader to the cutting edge of network science--the relationship between network structure and system dynamics. From network robustness to the spread of disease, this section offers a potpourri of topics on this rapidly expanding frontier of the new science.




Modularity and Dynamics on Complex Networks


Book Description

Complex networks are typically not homogeneous, as they tend to display an array of structures at different scales. A feature that has attracted a lot of research is their modular organisation, i.e., networks may often be considered as being composed of certain building blocks, or modules. In this Element, the authors discuss a number of ways in which this idea of modularity can be conceptualised, focusing specifically on the interplay between modular network structure and dynamics taking place on a network. They discuss, in particular, how modular structure and symmetries may impact on network dynamics and, vice versa, how observations of such dynamics may be used to infer the modular structure. They also revisit several other notions of modularity that have been proposed for complex networks and show how these can be related to and interpreted from the point of view of dynamical processes on networks.