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Performance
Measurement and Control in Logistics Service Providing
-- Elfriede
Krauth, Hans Moonen, Viara Popova and Martijn Schut
Output
of a planning process is a set of assigned individual tasks
to resources at a certain point in time. Initially a manual
job, however, in the past decades information systems have
largely overtaken this role, especially in industries such
as (road-) logistics. This paper focuses on the performance
parameters and objectives that play a role in the planning
process. In order to gain insight in the factors which play
a role in designing new software systems for Logistical Service
Providers (LSPs). Therefore we study the area of Key Performance
Indicators (KPI). Typically, KPIs are used in a post-ante
context: To evaluate a company's past performance. We reason
that KPIs should be utilized in the planning phase as well;
thus ex-ante. This paper describes the extended literature
survey that we performed, and introduces a novel framework
that captures the dynamics of competing KPIs, by positioning
them in the practical context of an LSP. This framework could
be a valuable input in the design of a future generation of
information systems, capable of incorporating the business
dynamics of today's LSPs.
©
2005 Elfriede Krauth, Hans Moonen, Viara Popova and Martijn
Schut (http://www.cs.vu.nl). Reprinted with permission.
Getting
Success through
Organizational Change and Customer Relationship Management
-- R K Garg
The
shift from a product-oriented business strategy to a customer-focused
one has been a major change agent in companies recently. Many
companies have invested heavily in technology change enabling
a customer-focused relationship marketing strategy. However,
there are mixed results as to how successful firms have been
in implementing Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems.
The challenge of managing organizational change has been raised
as a potentially important factor affecting the successful
outcome of CRM efforts. In order to get more insight into
organizational change in the CRM context, we conducted an
exploratory single case study, and identified several change
events on different observational levels. The research results
give support to previous findings that before implementing
CRM technologies, a company should first change the organization
to become more customer-focused. This again requires the re-engineering
of many key customer relationship management processes. Research
findings suggest that to succeed, one should first identify
existing and concurrent change processes and their related
change entities. Then one could evaluate, whether change eventstriggered
by these processes might have an effect on one another in
a way, which could endanger the successful outcome of the
CRM implementation.
©
2005 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Negotiation:
Debt
Collection and Settlement
-- Patrick
Low Kim Cheng
Through
three focus group sessions (consisting of 24 business leader-members)
and interviews (with 19 bank officers and managers), this
study explores the various tactics and ways, both tough and
soft, in which Singapore companies' and banks' debt collection
negotiators negotiate or get monies back from those who have
taken loans from them. An off-shot side issue of the study
is that it also highlights some debt collection tactics of
some loan sharks' operators.
©
2005 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Measuring
Labor Dynamics: The
Next Generation in Labor Market Information
-- Richard
L Clayton and Jay A Mousa
The
Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) provides the
core of BLS business statistics; now, new data linkages between
the QCEW and unemployment insurance wage records enable economists
to better understand the complex job dynamics taking place
in the national and local economy.
©
2004 The Bureau of Labor Statistics (http://www.bls.gov).
This article was originally published in Monthly Labor
Review, May 2004, Volume 127, No.5. Reprinted with permission.
Smart
Motors and Road Transport-Community Transportation Management
(Traffic
Monitoring Module - TMM)
-- Raghu
Guda and Neeraja Guda
Ever
since man invented the wheel, mobility has been evolving.
The need for transportation far outpaces the rate of growth
of the infrastructure upon which the transportation depends,
causing huge bottlenecks and issues. This article identifies
a few trouble areas of road transportation and explores how
technology can aid in making the roads much safer with smarter
motor vehicles, without having to redo the entire expansive
infrastructure. This is a concept paper combining many pioneering
trends across the globe with the indigenous ideas of the authors.
©
2005 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Economies
of Scope and
Diversification
-- G Aruna Yagnanarayana
and V M Prasad
Starting
from the theory of growth of the firm, attempts were made
by several researchers to understand the relationship between
strategy and structure of an organization. Most studies took
the sample of Fortune 500 companies and linked the diversification
strategy of the sample companies with the economic performance
of the organization. This paper attempts to debate the reasons
and motivations behind corporate diversification and the resulting
economic consequences. Such analysis is expected to provide
useful insights for taking appropriate investment decisions.
An attempt is made to analyze issues on the nature of the
firm and the Penrose-Effect. Market failure conditions and
the four classes of scope economies are discussed to provide
insights into the concepts underlying corporate diversification,
an area of importance for the entrepreneurs and senior management
of any organization.
©
2005 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Research
Summary
In
Search of Ethical Business Leadership: Time to Mix Our Metaphors?
This
research paper was originally written by Professor Ken Peattie,
The Director of the ESRC Center for Business Relationships,
Accountability, Sustainability and Society.
©
2004 ECRC Center for Business Relationships, Accountability,
Sustainability and Society (http://www.ccels.cf.ac.uk). All
Rights Reserved. IUP holds the copyright
for the summary.
Book
Review
Seeking
the Calm in the Storm - Managing Chaos in Your Business Life
-- Judith M Bardwick
©
2002 Financial Times Prentice Hall (First Indian Reprint,
2004). All Rights Reserved. IUP holds
the copyright for the review. |
