Search results for "operations management"

Mechanical Efficiency of SSC Exercise

2010

The construction of knowledge from the scientific literature about the theme seaport performance evaluation

2015

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to know what scientific literature presents about the theme evaluation of seaport performance, thus enabling the construction of knowledge in the researchers and the identification of gaps in the research that will lead to advances in the area from the identification of the characteristics of a portfolio of relevant international publications. Design/methodology/approach – From the basic philosophical (constructivism), of the kind strategy (research-action) and the method used for the accomplishment of such strategy (structured process knowledge development process – constructivist (ProKnow-C)) the current research has a qualitative approach. Findings…

Decoding the Japanese Lean Production System according to a Viable Systems Perspective

2012

The increase in the complexity and variability of the business environment, due to constant and rapid changes in markets, calls for more flexible and effective production systems. Of the most valuable production systems, the Japanese lean production system (LPS) is the best known and studied, but is still not the most widely applied with success outside Japan. The reason for the low level of success of lean production outside its native country is the lack of understanding of the strong interactions which hold between enterprises and business systems. In order to fill this gap in our knowledge, we investigate the systemic interactions according to the Viable System View. To develop our anal…

Foot Print Towards Green Village - A Case on TARAGRAM

2012

This case is basically focused on particular villages of Bundelkhand region which are tending towards the self empowerment. It is about the down to earth solutions using concept of science and technology. It is about the synergistic approaches and about converting latent needs into demand. It is not compromising on quality and about increasing the productivity of all our resources within constrains of the environment to maintain ecological balance. The Development Alternatives Group, not for profit organization realized in the year of 1995 and in order to improve local economic conditions to meet basic needs, solutions were needed to respond to the needs based on local resource regeneration…

Strengthening Safety Compliance in Nuclear Power Operations: A Role-Based Approach

2014

Safety compliance is of paramount importance in guaranteeing the safe running of nuclear power plants. However, it depends mostly on procedures that do not always involve the safest outcomes. This article introduces an empirical model based on the organizational role theory to analyze the influence of legitimate sources of expectations (procedures formalization and leadership) on workers' compliance behaviors. The sample was composed of 495 employees from two Spanish nuclear power plants. Structural equation analysis showed that, in spite of some problematic effects of proceduralization (such as role conflict and role ambiguity), procedure formalization along with an empowering leadership s…

Forms and Functions of the Real Estate Market of Palermo (Italy). Science and Knowledge in the Cluster Analysis Approach

2016

The analysis of the housing market of a city requires suitable approaches and tools, such as data mining models, to represent its complexity which derives on many elements, e.g. the type of capital asset-house is a common good and an investment good as well, the heterogeneity of the urban areas—each of them has own historical and representative values and different urban functions—and the variability of building quality. The housing market of the most densely populated area of Palermo (Italy), corresponding to ten districts, is analyzed to verify the degree of its inner homogeneity and the relations between the quality of the characteristics and the price of the properties. Five hundred set…

Note: Critical Factors in Opening Pharmaceutical Packages: a Usability Study among Healthcare Workers, Women with Rheumatoid Arthritis and Elderly Wo…

2016

This cross-sectional study compared the usability of pharmaceutical packages to determine the critical factors involved in packages with different opening mechanisms. Four packaging types (a bottle with a screw cap, a box with a pill plate, disposable plastic droppers with a container and a jar with a hinge cap) were evaluated by 45 women (nurses, older women and women with rheumatoid arthritis). Usability was evaluated for subjective measures related to the ease of opening and for objective measures related to the time needed to open the packaging, electrical muscular activity (electromyography, EMG) and ranges of motion of the upper extremities. Of the arthritic women, 13% were unable to …

Ambizioni e insuccessi di alcune politiche di sviluppo locale per il Mezzogiorno. Patti territoriali e Programmi integrati territoriali (Pit)

2008

In 1997 a “new programming” was launched in Italy by the Department of development and cohesion policies in Rome. One of the key features of this new phase was the emphasis on “endogenous” local development, i.e. a development which is mainly based on local actors and productive specializations. The new programming strikingly failed to deliver its expected results. Some wrong expectations were fostered with regard to local political elites (§§ 1). A certain concept of local development is inherently flawed (§§ 2). The first failure was that of “territorial agreements” (patti territoriali), but there is a remarkable reluctancy to admit it (§§ 3). Another experience of “local” development who…

THE INDICATORS OF LOCUS OF CONTROL IN THE SMALL BUSINESS CONTEXT

2000

There have been divergent opinions as to the suitability of the various indicators of locus of control in business management research. This study examines how the indicators of internal locus and strategic locus of control function in the small business context. The study examines first the interrelations between these indicators and then relation between each of the indicators and the firm's strategic factors. The indicators of locus of control differed from each other in their relation to external control. The indicator of strategic locus of control correlated with the firm's targets, strategic decision-making and success. On the other hand the indicator of internal locus of control is …

Joint Route Planning under Varying Market Conditions

2006

Purpose - To provide empirical evidence on the level of savings that can be attained by joint route planning and how these savings depend on specific market characteristics.Design/methodology/approach - Joint route planning is a measure that companies can take to decrease the costs of their distribution activities. Essentially, this can either be achieved through horizontal cooperation or through outsourcing distribution to a Logistics Service Provider. The synergy value is defined as the difference between distribution costs in the original situation where all entities perform their orders individually, and the costs of a system where all orders are collected and route schemes are set up s…