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- Andersson, Dan, 1966-
(författare)
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Third Party Logistics : Outsourcing Logistics in Partnerships
- 1997
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The purpose of this dissertation is to contribute the body of knowledge of the outsourcing of logistics services in integrated relationships between a shipper ( e.g. a manufacturer) and a logistics service provider (e.g. a transport firm).My two studies cover the scope of third-party logistics and the interaction between the shipper and the service provider as well as the set-up of the partnerships. The focus of the dissertation could be expressed by the following questions:• Why do service buyers outsource logistics activities in the form of partnerships?• What are the long-term effects of logistics partnerships?• How are the effects of the logistics partnerships achieved?• Which factors influence the success of a logistics partnership?The method used has been a combination of four case studies and surveys of 47 European shippers and 59 US shippers. The empirical material has been analysed primarly by the use of transaction cost theory.Expected positive cost and service effects are important driving forces for the outsourcing of logistics. Linked to the cost aspects is also a desire to reduce investments. It could be a question of transforming fixed costs to variable, or to facilitate fast and radical restructuring of supply chains. Finally one of the single most important driving forces is the shipper's ambition to concentrate on core business.Logistics partnerships have been observed to have a positive effect on the following four areas at the shippers: cost, service, restructuring of supply chains, and control. The shippers believe that efficient operations, economies of scale and scope, and provider knowledge, have had positive effects on costs and service. A structural change could be achieved in a short time, as the shipper has to make only small investments in the distribution system, which can facilitate greater changes, also gaining the shipper flexibility in capacity. By outsourcing logistics activities it might also be possible to improve the measurability of cost and service performance.The success of logistics partnerships will, according to the shippers' opinions, be positively influenced by well-defined requirements and procedures, and by communication on all levels. From an operational point of view, the success of logistics partnerships is positively influenced by a low level of uncertainty and/or a high dedication of resources used.
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| 2. |
- Brehmer, Per-Olof, 1964-
(författare)
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Towards a Model of Lean Freight Transport Operations
- 1999
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Freight carrier operations are increasingly squeezed between intensified competition, a changed market structure, increased customer preferences, financial pressure from the owners and the influences from technological innovations. Despite an extensive work to coordinate individual resources, the results are not satisfactory. Freight carrier planning today mainly relies on estimated demand and fixed production plans, while the customers' ever faster changes in transport relations and in frequency lead to overcapacity in assets as well as overtransport. Emerging solutions to this problem is addressed in this dissertation.This dissertation contributes to the knowledge on the management of freight transport operations through developing a conceptual model of lean freight transport operations. With 'lean' we here mean physical and information value processes, which flow without overcapacity or other 'slacks', that are customer driven, and with the aim to pursue perfection. These issues have previously mainly been addressed in manufacturing of goods. The design of transport operations and its management, planning, control, coordination, and measurements are hence studied.The methodology is theory generating case studies. Five international freight carriers, two rail, two intermodal and one road, with a door-to-door responsibility for the transport have been studied. Two different, but related, patterns have been identified; the cost and the service pattern. The service pattern has many similarities to the characteristics of lean production of goods. We have discussed how other parts of the lean production paradigm can be adapted to freight transport operations. However, none of the studied carriers has fully implemented the lean production paradigm in their operations management. Implementing the lean production paradigm could be beneficial but the differences between transport and manufacturing have to be considered.Transport operations, as well as other services, have open-ended characteristics involving parallel production processes. Transport production is also geographically spread out and involves many parties, including customers sending and receiving the goods. Service products and production processes therefore have to match perfectly in real time and space. This calls for more extensive design considerations and systems for planning and control of demand and supply.To summarise, we have extended the empirical findings with lean manufacturing theory into a proposed lean transport operations model with the following characteristics:• long term partnering, extensive real time executive communication, and coordination with customers and partners in the transport chain instead of arm's length transactional relations,• geographically decentralised cross functional units with high controllability through innovative use of information technology, which leads to high flexibility in time and space, cost effective operations and high service quality in contrast to centralisation,• core competencies and skills supporting dynamic design and production management enabling frequent changes based on high built-in flexibility in the transport network through the use of partners instead of own assets and only functional skills,• resource coordination that focuses on the 'role' of resources and assets in the services and production processes rather than as something solved by computer algorithms for each resource separately,• physical and informational processes which handle strategic considerations and operational activities as a dynamic entity in contrast to static ones.
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| 3. |
- Danilovic, Mike
(författare)
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Loop : Leadership and Organization of Integration in Product Development
- 1999
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Many companies have introduced concurrent engineering over the years in product development to handle the complexity of the technology chosen, relations and dependencies through coordination of people and the integration of tasks in problem solving.The aim of this research is to investigate the collaboration of engineers and management, and how tasks are composed in order to enable high levels of integration in cross-functional settings in product development.The context of this research is the product development of the Swedish multi-role aircraft, JAS39 Gripen at Saab. The product development of aircraft is based on advanced technology on the edge of present knowledge, pushing the limits of present knowledge and developing new technologies.While product development as a process is equifinal, the introduction of concurrent engineering is a multifinal process. There is not one answer to how concurrent engineering set-ups should be designed. Even if the aim and mission may appear to be the same, the actual outcome of a design process of a particular concurrent engineering setting may be different.In Loop, a framework of the architecture of integration is developed that enable an analysis of different concurrent engineering settings. The most important reasons for the lack of intra- and inter-organizational integration of suppliers in the product development are the design of the work breakdown structure and the definition of work packages. Dependence structure matrix methodology is introduced to elaborate the established work breakdown structure and work packages, enabling engineers and suppliers to participate in the design of the process for product development on the engineering work level. In addition, dependency structure analysis shows that collaborative work packages, and multi-layer team structure, could be applied in order to handle the coordination of people and integration of tasks among functions, suppliers, and systems integrators.The answer to handling complexity is to develop organizational settings on the principles of selforganizing systems. A human system based on the principles of self-organizing is characterized by bounded instability. A self-organizing system is an adaptive, nonlinear system with open boundaries, continuously redesigned. A self-organizing system is a fractal structure. Every self-organizing system, or its part, is unique and differs from all the others. The process of establishing the "self' is not directed or controlled by management, but evolves through the interrelationships of the system's parts, elements, processes, and people. Self-organizing system develop through the participation of engineers in the design of the structure and the processes. The performance of the self-organizing system is attained through the coherence and collaboration of all people, and their participation and commitment in the design of the self-organizing system. The participatory approach is based on the premises of situational visibility that appear when strategic conversation takes place at the same time as engineers participate in organizational and process design. The participation of engineers is based on respect for their autonomy, identity, and privacy. Strategic conversation and participation are crucial for developing self-organizing and selfregulating systems.
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| 4. |
- Ericson, Thomas
(författare)
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Förändringsideer och meningsskapande : En studie av strategiskt förändringsarbete
- 1998
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- When an organization is facing dramatic change, shared and individual beliefs and opinions are exposed to reconstruction. Different prevailing meanings are challenged. Therefore, in the thesis it is argued that it is necessary to understand subjective meanings held among the members of an organization, as well as the processes by which these meanings change, coincide and lead to concerted action, if we are to understand organizational change. Through a longitudinal study of two centers (i.e. divisions) within a large hospital organization, I have tried to create an understanding of strategic change in organizations, from a sensemaking perspective. The empirical study is carried out in a place between different hierarchical levels.This place is of special interest since actors in this context have to make sense of the changes that are put forward by top management, while at the same time they are expected to give sense to the members of the organization on lower hierarchical levels. While a first order interpretation is made as the empirical description moves ahead, the final chapters of the thesis contain second order interpretations that are more elaborated. The most important result from these further interpretations is a number of concepts that contribute to the understanding of organizational change. All together, the concepts create a coherent whole. The core of the concept formation is made up by four ideal types of meaning. Through these ideal types, different "meaning status" that can be present within a group or organization are described. In order to get a hold on the transformation from one ideal type of meaning to another, four different processes of transformation are identified and described. In addition to these results, the relationship between meaning and action are problemized. It is argued that action and/or visions are crucial during periods of change.
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| 5. |
- Fang, Tony
(författare)
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Chinese Culture and Chinese Business Negotiating Style
- 1999
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The People's Republic of China (PRC) is the world's largest emerging market. It has attracted huge interest from Western business communities since 1978. However, the PRC is also a demanding market and the Chinese are probably the world's toughest negotiators. Chinese business negotiating style has emerged as a special area of inquiry in international business since Lucian W. Pye from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology published his seminal work Chinese Commercial Negotiating Style in 1982. The existing research stresses the link between Chinese culture and Chinese business negotiating style and draws our attention to a variety of Chinese negotiatingtactics. Despite these efforts, questions remain as to how to understand Chinese negotiating style in a systematic fashion, how to explain Chinese negotiating tactics from the vantage point of Chinese culture, how to deepen our empirical understanding of the subject, and so on.The purpose of this dissertation is to capture salient characteristics of Chinese culture to systematically understand Chinese business negotiating style in Sino-Western business negotiations. The research attempts to answer four major questions: 1) What are the primary patterns of the Chinese business negotiating style? 2) What are the fundamental Chinese sociocultural forces driving Chinese business negotiating behaviors and tactics? 3) How to understand the Chinese communication style in business settings? 4) Why is the Chinese style of negotiating distinctive? A qualitative case study approach is adopted as a principal methodology to achieve the research purpose. The research is based mostly on the author's in-depth personal interviews with the Chinese as well as Scandinavian business negotiators in various industries including telecommunications, shipping and shipbuilding.The dissertation is made up of a cover essay and appended one book, one book chapter, one journal article, two conference papers, and one detailed case study. The dissertation advances the scholarship by constructing systematic models with which to understand Chinese business behaviors and tactics and by providing real-life rich descriptive case study and illustrations. An important empirical feature of this research is that the Chinese and the Western perspectives of Chinese negotiating style are presented in a balanced way. The major findings include: 1) Chinese negotiating style can be systematically studied in terms of political, legal, technical, commercial, social, and strategic dimensions. 2) The PRC condition, Confucianism, and Chinese stratagems are the three fundamental Chinese sociocultural forces shaping Chinese negotiating behaviors and tactics. 3) Chinese communication style in business can be described as implicit, listening-centered, polite, insider-oriented, face-directed, and stratagemdriven. 4) The Chinese negotiator is a blend of "Maoist bureaucrat," "Confucian gentleman," and "Sun Tzu-like strategist." 5) Hofstede's fifth national culture dimension ("Confucian Dynamism") suffers from a philosophical flaw. The dissertation also provides managerial advice for negotiating and doing business effectively with the PRC.
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| 6. |
- Norrman, Andreas
(författare)
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Organizing Timebased Distribution in Transnational Corporations : Interaction Between Logistics and Organizational Structures
- 1997
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Currently, physical distribution structures for industrial goods are changing. This change is expected to increase in scope over the next few years, facilitated by the advancement of Information Technology and transport systems, and the removal of border frictions. Traditional physical distribution channels, linked from factory warehouses through central warehouses, regional warehouses and local sales subsidiaries' warehouses to customers are replaced by direct distribution to customers from factories or, in many cases, via one or two European distribution centres. This emerging structure has been labelled Timebased Distribution, because of the focus on time instead of distance.One of the biggest hurdles to overcome, when implementing innovative logistics solutions such as timebased distribution, has been noticed to be of organizational nature. Further, it has been argued that logistics could be a driving force for organizational change, especially in the "Europeanization" of transnational corporations in Europe.The purpose of this study is to contribute to the knowledge of organizing timebased distribution, especially the two issues of:1) how to organize timebased distribution, with the focus on the responsibility of different physical distribution activities and ownership of goods.2) how timebased distribution affects the organizational structure.Current theory has neither explicitly treated the organization of timebased distribution, nor how new physical distribution structures affect organizational structures. This study contributes by developing conceptual models of e.g.• the organization of timebased distribution in different organizational structures of transnational corporations;• how responsibility, control and execution of different activities, and ownership of goods are allocated between different organizational units;• the transition of autonomous sales subsidiaries into lean sales branches with centralised administration;• how timebased distribution lays a platform for changing the organizational structure, especially regarding sales subsidiaries.
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| 7. |
- Sonesson, Thomas, 1948-
(författare)
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Estimering av efterfrågan på långväga persontransporter : En ekonomisk-teoretisk belysning av gängse modeller samt en ny ansats till uppskattning av efterfrågesamband
- 1998
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation deals with the estimation of intercity travel demand. The purpose is to discuss the derivations and characteristics of existing models, to derive a demand model based on microeconomic theory and to estimate the parameters of the model in order to gain information on important characteristics of the transport system.The assumptions in the derivation of common travel demand models from microeconomic theory (gravity models, entropy maximising models and logit models) are often made only to support existing models and the economic implications of the assumptions are not fully discussed. In many cases this results in models with characteristics that are questionable in the light of economic theory. In other cases theoretically possible but restrictive characteristics are given in advance rather than determined in the estimation process.The intercity travel demand model proposed in this study is based on the general assumption that travel demand can be derived from the demand for visits to other cities. As people living in different parts of a country experience different prices or "generalised transport costs" for visits to the cities, it is possible to estimate demand functions for visits to each city from the use of cross-sectional data, which is normally not possible for other utilities. From these demand functions, demand functions for separate transport relations can be derived. Necessary conditions concerning various demand elasticities are formulated and their consequences for the mathematical specification of the model are discussed. Of particular interest are those parts of the model that link together different levels. In order not to specify the cost function in advance, a Box-Cox formulation is used. The result is a demand model which determines the total number of trips made from each city, as well as the distribution among destinations and travel modes.A simplified version of the model, not including distribution among travel modes, is estimated with Swedish data for the period 1990-1994. Estimations are made for the total number of trips as well as separately for business trips and private trips. The following results are the most interesting. There is strong support for the cost expression in the model to approach a power function, contrary to the exponential function that is given in advance in many other models. In the long run the demand for trips between two cities is elastic with respect to the generalised transport cost. Elasticities estimated range from minus one to minus two. About 80% of the additional trips caused by a decrease in costs are redistributed from other destinations, however, showing that in the long run the possibilities of substitution among destinations are good. Consequently, the relative effects of a general change in transport costs between all city pairs are smaller. Elasticities found in the study lie between -0,3 (private trips) and -0,5 (business trips).
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