Integrating theory and practices of supply chain management, this book incorporates more than 15 years of supply chain and operations management research and industry consulting experience to both government and industry firms.The coverage focuses on how to build a competitive supply chain using viable management strategies, operational models, decision-making techniques, and information technology. It includes a core presentation on supply chain management and new initiatives such as e-commerce, collaborative planning, forecasting, and replenishment (CPFR), data mining, knowledge management, and business intelligence.

The issues of sustainability and corporate social responsibility have become vital discussions in many industries within the public and private sectors. In the business realm, incorporating practices that serve the overall community and ecological wellbeing can also allow businesses to flourish economically and socially. Green Business: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications is a vital reference source for the latest research findings on the challenges and benefits of implementing sustainability into the core functions of contemporary enterprises, focusing on how green approaches improve operations. Highlighting a range of topics such as corporate sustainability, green enterprises, and circular economy, this multi-volume book is ideally designed for business executives, business and marketing professionals, business managers, academicians, and researchers actively involved in the business industry.

This book presents the proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Management Science and Engineering Management (ICMSEM2013) held from November 7 to 9, 2013 at Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA and organized by the International Society of Management Science and Engineering Management, Sichuan University (Chengdu, China) and Drexel University (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA). The goals of the Conference are to foster international research collaborations in Management Science and Engineering Management as well as to provide a forum to present current research findings. The selected papers cover various areas in management science and engineering management, such as Decision Support Systems, Multi-Objective Decisions, Uncertain Decisions, Computational Mathematics, Information Systems, Logistics and Supply Chain Management, Relationship Management, Scheduling and Control, Data Warehousing and Data Mining, Electronic Commerce, Neural Networks, Stochastic Models and Simulation, Fuzzy Programming, Heuristics Algorithms, Risk Control, Organizational Behavior, Green Supply Chains, and Carbon Credits. The proceedings introduce readers to novel ideas on and different problem-solving methods in Management Science and Engineering Management. We selected excellent papers from all over the world, integrating their expertise and ideas in order to improve research on Management Science and Engineering Management.

This volume gathers the peer reviewed papers which were presented at the third edition of the International Workshop “Service Orientation in Holonic and Multi-agent Manufacturing and Robotics – SOHOMA’13” organized on June 20-22, 2013 by the Centre of Research in Computer Integrated Manufacturing and Robotics – CIMR Bucharest, and hosted by the University of Valenciennes, France. The book is structured in five parts, each one covering a specific research domain which represents a trend for modern manufacturing control: Distributed Intelligence for Sustainable Manufacturing, Holonic and Multi-Agent Technologies for Manufacturing Planning and Control; Service Orientation in Manufacturing Management and Control, Intelligent Products and Product-driven Automation and Robotics for Manufacturing and Services. These five evolution lines have in common concepts related to service orientation in a distributed planning and control agent-based industrial environment; today it is generally recognized that the Service Oriented Enterprise Architecture paradigm has been looked upon as a suitable and effective approach for industrial automation and management of manufacturing enterprises.

The three-volume set LNAI 7196, LNAI 7197 and LNAI 7198 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 4th Asian Conference on Intelligent Information and Database Systems, ACIIDS 2012, held in Kaohsiung, Taiwan in March 2012. The 161 revised papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from more than 472 submissions. The papers included cover the following topics: intelligent database systems, data warehouses and data mining, natural language processing and computational linguistics, semantic Web, social networks and recommendation systems, collaborative systems and applications, e-bussiness and e-commerce systems, e-learning systems, information modeling and requirements engineering, information retrieval systems, intelligent agents and multi-agent systems, intelligent information systems, intelligent internet systems, intelligent optimization techniques, object-relational DBMS, ontologies and knowledge sharing, semi-structured and XML database systems, unified modeling language and unified processes, Web services and semantic Web, computer networks and communication systems.

Describes how to build a competitive edge by developing superior operations This comprehensive, practice-oriented text illustrates how healthcare organizations can gain a competitive edge through superior operations – and demonstrates how to achieve them. Underscoring the importance of a strategic perspective, the book describes how to attain excellence in the four competitive priorities: quality, cost, delivery, and flexibility. The competitive priorities are interrelated, with excellent quality laying the foundation for performance in the other competitive priorities, and with targeted improvement initiatives having synergistic effects. The text stresses the benefits of aligning the entire operations system within the parameters of a business strategy. It equips students with a conceptual mental model of healthcare operations in which all concepts and tools fit together logically. With a hands-on approach, the book clearly demonstrates the “how-tos” of effectively managing a healthcare organization. It describes how to negotiate the different perspectives of clinicians and administrators by offering a common platform for building competitive advantage. To bring the cultural context of a healthcare organization to life, the book engages students with a series of short vignettes of a fictitious healthcare organization as it strives to achieve the status of a highly reliable organization. Integrated throughout are a variety of tools and quantitative techniques with step-by-step instructions to assist in problem solving and process improvements. Also included are mind maps linking competitive priorities and concepts, quick-reference icons, dashboards displaying measurement and process tracking, and boxed features. Several project ideas, team assignments, and creative thinking exercises are proposed. A comprehensive Instructor Packet and online tutorials further enhance the book’s outstanding value. Key Features: Includes mind maps to connect competitive priorities, concepts, and tools Provides an extensive tool kit for problem solving and process improvements Presents icons throughout the text to emphasize competitive priorities and tool coverage Emphasizes measurement with dashboards and includes data files for statistical process control, queuing, and simulation Demonstrates human dynamics and organizational challenges through realistic vignettes Presents boxed features of frequently asked questions an real-world implementations of concepts Provides comprehensive Instructor Packet and online tutorials

This e-book intends to discuss issues and challenges like Globalization, Ethics and Social Responsibility, Empowerment of Employees, Workforce Diversity, etc. The edited e-book would prove to be a boon to academicians, researchers, executives, professionals, business leaders and many others who are facing competition with the rapid development in global business scenario. The scope of e-book will be a forum for new ideas, concepts and discussions of the challenges of the business management and would also be an endeavor to examine the different dimensions of a successful business.

Fierce global competition in the tourism industry is now focused on integral parts of supply chains rather than on individual firms. The highly competitive environment has forced tourism firms to look for ways to enhance their competitive advantage. Tourism products are often viewed by consumers as a value-added chain of different service components and identifying ways to effectively manage the interrelated tourism business operations will enable tourism firms to better meet customer needs and accomplish business goals thus maintaining competitive advantage over their equally efficient rivals. This significant and timely volume is the first to apply supply chain management theories and practices in the context of tourism. By doing so the book offers insight into the relationships between tourism enterprises, how coordination across organizations can be effectively achieved and how business performance can be improved. It provides comprehensive and systematic coverage of modern supply chain management concepts and methodologies applied to the tourism and hospitality industries. The text covers key issues and principles including: marketing and product development, demand forecasting, supplier selection and management, distribution channels, capacity management, customer relationship management, tourism supply chain competition and coordination, and e-tourism. The book combines essential theory and comparative international examples based on primary research to show challenges and opportunities of effective tourism supply chain management. This text is essential for final year undergraduate and postgraduate students studying Tourism Management, Tourism Planning and Tourism Economics.

Port Economics is the study of the economic decisions (and their consequences) of the users and providers of port services. A port is an "engine" for economic development by providing employment, worker incomes, business earnings and taxes for its region. The book provides a detailed discussion of types of carriers that use ports, the operation of cargo and passenger ports as well as the operation of such specific ports as Hong Kong, Hamburg, Le Havre, Savannah, Miami and Panama. Port Economics is the first contemporary textbook of its kind. It enhances our understanding of port economics by – classifying port users and suppliers of port services in the context of economic demand and supply curves; denoting that the demand for port services has two prices, the price paid to the port by the users and the price (or actual and opportunity costs) incurred by port user carriers, shippers and passengers; presenting the economic theories of carriers, shippers and passengers. The numerous up-to-date references will be of benefit to students and researchers of the economics of the shipping trade; to government officials in developing port and shipping policies; and to port operators in understanding the port-choice selection process by shipping lines and other carriers.

Papers presented at the Third National IT Conference.