Outsourcing of Operations in the Banking Industry: A Case Study from China

--Nan Zhu, Hong Qiu, Long Wang and Les Foulds

In this paper, the question of whether or not to outsource cash operations to third-party companies is addressed. We present a mixed integer linear programming model of this issue that aims to provide guidance concerning the possible outsourcing strategy of the cash transport and sorting in cash closed-loop supply chains of China’s banking industry. We report a study that applies our model and solution approach to simulated data in a region and the study implies that partial outsourcing leads to an overall cost reduction of 9.48%. We conclude that it may often be beneficial for commercial banks to at least partially outsource their cash operational businesses.

A Concept Note on the Relationship Between Empowerment, Collaboration and Selected Outcomes in a Supply Chain

--A Lakshminarasimha

In Supply Chain Management (SCM), inter-firm collaboration is considered as the key to effective management for the delivery of the value that a customer desires. An increasingly educated workforce and advanced information systems facilitate business activities without the need for close supervision. In implementing an integrated value system, organizations are continually faced with the challenge of managing the ‘people’ part of the equation. Empowerment involves a management practice of sharing information, rewards, and power with employees so that they can take initiative and make decisions to solve problems and improve service and performance. A literature review of SCM collaboration and outcomes revealed that there is very little work on empowerment in the area of SCM to date. Research has traditionally focused on hard variables. Hence, integrating empowerment as a latent variable construct in an SCM framework and evaluating its role in SCM outcomes was considered not only to be academically interesting but also of use in industry. Constructs were selected, based on past studies and a theoretical framework with causal relationships was formed. The objective was to relate the role of empowerment in collaboration between organizations and their downstream partners which influences selected outcomes.

© 2017 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

A Study of Bullwhip Effect and its Impact on Information Flow in Cloud Supply Chain Network

--Anil B Gowda and K N Subramanya

Cloud computing services need to be understood for analyzing Cloud Supply Chain Network (CSCN). One of the key information in a Supply Chain Network (SCN) is the quantity that is demanded at various nodes of the SCN. Every node in the supply chain tends to stock more items than actually needed because of uncertainties in the estimated quantity. The quantity of items magnifies upstream the supply chain and the effect is known as Bullwhip effect. There is a need to integrate IT services with supply chain to make it agile and enhance the information flow and decision-making process. Proper information available at lower cost and in quick time can help minimize the bullwhip effect. Hence, there is a need to understand and analyze the importance of various factors pertaining to cloud computing services. Benefits from cloud computing like lower cost of hardware and software, collaborations, software support and decision support services are considered for analysis. This paper aims at determining the weightages and contribution of such services. A relationship function encompassing the key parameters pertaining to the cloud computing factors is derived, which is useful for decision making and understanding how bullwhip effect can be minimized.

© 2017 IUP. All Rights Reserved.