Search results for "Operations management"
showing 10 items of 239 documents
Organizational Learning Capability and Job Satisfaction: an Empirical Assessment in the Ceramic Tile Industry
2009
Organizational learning capability has been considered an essential issue of an organization's effectiveness and potential to innovate and grow. Although its positive effects on organizations and employees are generally assumed, there is no empirical evidence of its positive association with employee attitudes such as job satisfaction. This paper aims to investigate the relationship between organizational learning capability and job satisfaction through the questionnaire responses of 157 employees from eight companies in the Spanish ceramic tile industry. Results suggest that organizational learning capability and job satisfaction are strongly linked.
Exploring working conditions as determinants of job satisfaction: an empirical test among Catalonia service workers
2011
Job satisfaction is particularly important in the service industries since it involves direct contact with customers and thus has a direct influence on company performance. This paper analyses the impact of 10 working conditions on job satisfaction by means of structural equation modeling in a representative stratified random sample of 1553 service sector employees in Catalonia, Spain. Significant effects in social aspects (recognition of a job well done and social support) were found, followed by psychological loads (emotional demands and job insecurity) and by task contents (development and meaning, and predictability). These variables explained 50% of the variance in job satisfaction.
Meeting the environmental challenge of port growth: A critical appraisal of the contingent valuation method and an application to Valencia Port, Spain
2012
In order to support effective policy-making, this research is aimed to emphasise the need of measuring the negative impact - or external costs - resulting from port growth. Considering the non-market nature of these external costs, a critical appraisal of the Contingent Valuation method is made paying special attention to the problem of hypothetical bias and the suitability of a willingness to accept (WTA) scenario for damage assessment. Finally, the results of a case study, conducted in Valencia (Spain), are presented with the intention of paving the way for future research in this specific context of port growth and negative externalities. In particular, results indicate that the average …
A New Platform for Automatic Bottom-Up Electric Load Aggregation
2017
In this paper, a new virtual framework for load aggregation in the context of the liberalized energy market is proposed. Since aggregation is managed automatically through a dedicated platform, the purchase of energy can be carried out without intermediation as it happens in peer-to-peer energy transaction models. Differently from what was done before, in this new framework, individual customers can join a load aggregation program through the proposed aggregation platform. Through the platform, their features are evaluated and they are clustered according to their reliability and to the width of range of regulation allowed. The simulations show the deployment of an effective clustering and …
Temporary Competitive Advantage: An Investigation into the Core of the Literature
2016
Evidence of over 350 citations recorded by the articles published in the 2010 special issue on “The Age of Temporary Advantage” of the Strategic Management Journal shows that the inquiry on temporary nature of competitive advantage is an emergent research area in strategic management. They also exhibit that, most likely, it is going to be a significant research area for the coming years. To assess the current status of the literature as well as to fathom the directions and challenges of future research on temporary advantage, we review prior empirical research on temporary advantage so as to offer a conceptual map that provides a comprehensive appreciation of antecedents, processes, and con…
Suitability of the ASA Model in Nigeria
2010
This paper looks at the lending methodology adopted by ASA International in Nigeria and how the model is suited for operations within the Nigerian microfinance sector. It begins by examining the critical success factors that contribute towards ASA having a lean operations, how it manages operations efficiencies, and finally makes a set of recommendations that Nigerian Microfinance Institutions could adopt.
An empirical study of lean production in ceramic tile industries in Spain
2006
PurposeTo determine the degree of use of some of the most representative lean production (LP) practices in the Spanish ceramic tile industry, their relationship with plant size and their effect on the operational performance of the companies in the sector.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire was developed for data collection. Findings are presented from 76 companies (79.17 per cent of the total sample) that specialise in single firing ceramics.FindingsIn the sector under study, there is one set of practices that have as yet scarcely been implemented (group technology, kanban, reduction of set‐up time, development of multi‐function employees and visual factory) and another set whose us…
Energy saving in wastewater treatment plants: A plant-generic cooperative decision support system
2017
Abstract In Europe, the analysis of Waste Water Treatment Plants (WWTPs) shows a significant energy efficiency potential (up to 25%). Optimistically, plant managers assess their plant efficiency once or twice per year. Consequently, the time gap between an inefficiency and its detection produces avoidable operational costs. Although the installation of multiple on-line sensors can provide detailed energy information, for a human operator it is unrealistic to analyse the produced data in a satisfactory time-scale. This paper proposes a cooperative tool for energy saving that remotely accesses and evaluates WWTP databases to produce daily energy assessment reports. The novelty of this decisio…
OPTIMAL AIRLINE SEAT INVENTORY CONTROL FOR MULTI-LEG FLIGHTS
2005
Abstract For large commercial airlines, efficiently setting and updating seat allocation targets for each passenger category on each multi-leg flight is an extremely difficult problem. This paper presents static and dynamic models of airline seat inventory control for multi-leg flights with multiple fare classes, which allow one to maximize an expected contribution to profit. The dynamic model uses the most recent demand and capacity information and allows one to allocate seats dynamically and anticipatory over time.
Using Search Algorithms for Modeling Economic Processes
2013
Abstract Economic issues are placed in formal practice, when is desired a modelling of the economic process, a manufacturing process, a device, etc. Each share of that economic process is denoted by a, b, c, d, these actions with defined time periods and action pairs are formed strings of the form, ab * cab * bc ., ab, bb, bc. so for them there are no other restrictions. If the graph is viewed as a system image, nodes representing components, then an immediate interpretation of an arc (xi, xj) are the component xi that is said to directly influence component xj. If nodes have the significance of possible states of a system when a spring (xi.xj) means that, the system can jump from state xi …